MOSCOW (AP) — Local media say more than one hundred people have been detained at anti-government rallies in Kazakhstan.

Independent website Vlast.kz on Saturday reported up to 100 people have been detained in the center of the country's biggest city Almaty. The Interfax news agency also reported dozens of detentions in the capital Nur-Sultan as well as Shymkent, Karaganda and Oral.

Footage from the scene showed police snatching individuals from the crowd.

Police blocked traffic in the area of the Almaty protest called for by exiled tycoon Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fierce opponent of the ruling elite.

Protests rocked Kazakhstan earlier this year when long-time President Nursultan Nazarbayev abruptly resigned and named a successor to replace him. Many in this Central Asian nation viewed the move as an orchestrated handover of power.