Gunfire heard near torched mayor's office in Kazakhstan's biggest city

An Instagram live stream by a Kazakh blogger showed a fire blazing in the mayor's office of Kazakhstan's biggest city on Wednesday, and gunshots could be heard nearby.

The building in Almaty was surrounded by protesters who appeared to have broken through security forces' cordons even though the latter deployed stun grenades whose explosions could be heard throughout the city centre.

Protests began in the west of the former Soviet republic on Sunday over fuel price increases, leading to the resignation of the government earlier on Wednesday.