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An explosion of anger has spread across Kazakhstan in the first days of January 2022. The spark was a doubling of the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas – the most common fuel used in the country. A state of emergency at least until January 19th has been announced in the second largest city, Almaty, (where the mayor’s office was stormed) and in Mangistau. Night curfews from 11.00pm to 7.00am have been imposed.

Campaign Kazakhstan was set up in Britain and Europe to support the workers’ movement in Kazakhstan and oppose the repressive measures of the Nazarbayev regime.

In the following eyewitness report, Igor Ushakov, who serves on the Almaty editorial board of the left-wing online magazine, ‘Krasnaya Yurt’, explains the events on 4-5 January in the Kazakhstan city of Almaty, where a working-class uprising against the regime took place.