The airport of Almaty has shut down after being seized by protestors, the news website Orda.kz reported.

"The whole day passengers were being told that the army was protecting the airport, planes were flying as usual, and check-ins were carried out manually. Now the airport's security service tells us, we apologize, the airport has been seized. There will be no flights today," the website said, citing blogger Alisher Yelikbayev.

According to the website, Yelikbayev is at a hotel near the airport and was due to fly out at midnight.