Kazakhstan: What's behind the unrest and is a revolution brewing?
Kazakhstan is engulfed in the worst street protests since the country gained independence three decades ago with government buildings set ablaze and dozens of protesters killed.
The protests started in the southwestern oil town of Zhanaozen on 2 January over sharp increases in gas prices.
But they quickly spread across the country with demonstrations in Nur-Sultan and Almaty, the economic capital.
In a bid to quell the unrest, authorities first cut the price of gas.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev then dismissed the entire government. He also declared a state of emergency in several areas, including Almaty, where there is a nighttime curfew.
Later, Tokayev changed tack, describing the protesters as "terrorists" under "foreign" influence and demanding military backing from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a Russian-led military alliance.
Authorities confirmed on Thursday that "dozens" of protesters have been killed and that more than 1,000 had been injured in clashes with police.
Of the five Central Asian republics that gained independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is by far the largest and the wealthiest.
It spans a territory the size of Western Europe and sits atop colossal reserves of oil, natural gas, uranium and precious metals.
But while Kazakhstan’s natural riches have helped it cultivate a solid middle class, as well as a substantial cohort of ultrarich tycoons, financial hardship is widespread and the banking system has fallen prey to deep crises precipitated by non-performing loans. As in much of the rest of the region, petty corruption is rampant.
Resentments have long festered in Zhanaozen and its wider area over a sense that the region's energy riches haven't been fairly
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