The 55-year-old and his wife still own Kazakhstan’s largest bank, Halyk Bank, but media said that he had sold an 85 percent stake in a Kazakh fertiliser producer.

The initial spark for the demonstrations was a sharp rise in the price of fuel in the west of the country but this was quickly overtaken by corruption complaints against Mr Nazarbayev, who ruled over Kazakhstan for 28 years until 2019.

In the Caspian Sea city of Aktau in west Kazakhstan, it is easy to find people who want to see the back of Mr Nazarbayev.

“The corruption was too much. He has to go,” a 21-year-old student said.

Although the unrest has emboldened ordinary Kazakhs to speak out, most are still too afraid to give their full names. A trade union official in Aktau said that he had been fired for talking to Western media.

Government officials have said that 225 people have been killed during the unrest, up from an earlier figure of 164, and reports have emerged of unarmed civilians being shot dead.