Kazakhstan Riot Videos Show Country on Verge of Revolution

As the nation of Kazakhstan deals with continuing unrest, videos of protests have begun circulating on social media.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Almaty to participate in anti-government protests on Wednesday.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a state of emergency as violence broke out and protestor's stormed the Almaty mayor's office.

A video of a group of protestors chanting was shared by reporter Thomas van Linge to Twitter and has already been viewed over 110,000 times.

The video was captioned: "Anti-government protests are spreading and growing across Kazakhstan tonight.

"Protests initially started in Zhanaozen over a rise in fuel prices are now taking place in several cities including the former capital Almaty."

Another reporter, Shaun Walker, shared a video page showing large groups of people walking down a road.

He captioned the video: "Kazakhstan video on Telegram channels starting to look a lot like a revolution. Vehicles seized, buildings stormed."

The government's attempts to deal with the protestors with the use of the military was also caught on camera.

According to a report by Reuters, police and the military used tear gas and stun grenades to stop protestors storming the mayor's office.

One video was posted with the caption: "Shocking footage coming from Kazakhstan where the government deployed the military to enforce the curfew in a battle to stop the huge anti-government protests."

Tokayev addressed the violence in a video address on Tuesday. He said: "Calls to attack government and military offices are absolutely illegal.

"The government will not fall, but we want mutual trust and dialogue rather than conflict."

Demonstrations began after authorities in the oil-rich nation lifted price caps on liquefied petroleum gas used for vehicles, resulting in consumer prices increasing significantly.

Tokayev took to Twitter on Tuesday evening to say that the lower fuel prices would be restored.

He tweeted: "I ask the demonstrators not to follow the calls of destructive persons interested in undermining the stability and unity of our society.

"Other socio-economic requirements will be considered separately, including during tomorrow's workshop in the capital."

Tokayev later followed this tweet up with another that read: "The Government, within the framework of the powers given to it, in order to ensure stability in the country, decided to reduce the price for liquefied gas in the Mangistau region to 50 tenge per liter."

Newsweek has contacted the Kazakh government for comment.