Kazakh president removes ex-leader from post amid worst unrest in a decade

Buildings on fire in biggest city; President says government botched fuel price increase

Kazakhstan's president stripped his powerful predecessor of a role as head of the country's security council on Wednesday after demonstrators stormed and torched public buildings in the republic's worst unrest for more than a decade.

The cabinet resigned, but that failed to quell the demonstrators' anger after days of unrest triggered by a fuel price rise in the oil-producing Central Asian country.

Some protesters chanted slogans against Nursultan Nazarbayev, 81, who has retained wide authority since stepping down in 2019 as the longest-serving ruler of an ex-Soviet state.

Nazarbayev's hand-chosen successor, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, said he had taken over as head of the