Mass protests break out in Kazakhstan over fuel price hike

Rare mass protests break out in Kazakhstan over fuel price rise.

Mass protests have broken out in Kazakhstan, triggered by a sharp rise in fuel prices in the Central Asian country.

Videos posted on social media show thousands of people gathering in cities across the country on Tuesday, in some places clashing violently with police and trying to storm government buildings, as authorities deployed security forces to try to disperse them and a state of emergency was declared in two parts of the country.

The internet was reportedly partially shut down in parts of the country, including in the former capital, Almaty, as Kazakhstan’s president appealed for calm and pledged his "government will not fall."

The scenes on Tuesday were extraordinary in the repressive former Soviet country, where opposition is tightly controlled. For most of its independent history, Kazakhstan was ruled by the same authoritarian leader.