Demonstrators protesting rising fuel prices broke into the mayor’s office in Kazakhstan’s largest city Wednesday and flames were seen coming from inside, according to local news reports. 

Many of the demonstrators who converged on the building in Almaty carried clubs and shields, the Kazakh news site Zakon said. 

Protests against a sharp increase in prices for liquefied gas began this week in the country’s west. 

As the protests spread to Almaty and Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan, the government resigned. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a state of emergency in Almaty, imposing an overnight curfew and limiting access to the city. 

At the start of the year, prices for the gas that is used to power many vehicles roughly doubled as the government concluded a shift away from price controls. 

 
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