OREANDA-NEWS. Almaty is gradually returning to normal after protests in Kazakhstan since the beginning of January. This was stated by Mayor Bakytzhan Sagintayev, reports Sputnik Kazakhstan.

He specified that the city headquarters is working around the clock and in close cooperation with the Anti-Terrorist Centre.

"Thanks to the decisive actions of the president, we managed to prevent the collapse of the country. Kazakhstan has held out and proved to the world that it is impossible to destroy and destroy our country and people,"- the mayor of Almaty added.

Protests sparked by a double increase in the price of liquefied gas began in Kazakhstan January 2. Demonstrators demanded regime change in the country and the return of the 1993 Constitution, as well as lower gasoline, utility and food prices, and higher wages and pensions. In the course of the protests, shops were vandalised, the city administration and the airport of Almaty were seized, and clashes with the police and the military occurred.

From 5 January, the protest movement spread throughout the country, entering an active phase, with 5,800 people detained. The next day, the countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, which apart from Kazakhstan includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, started sending peacekeepers to stabilise the situation in the republic.