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Zhanaozen returning to normal, authorities say
Presidential adviser calls unrest a ‘purely local’ event
By Gulmira Isakova and Aibek Karabayev
2011-12-19
ZHANAOZEN – Relative calm has returned to Zhanaozen, a city of 90,000 in Western Kazakhstan, after unrest erupted December 16, and continued through the weekend, according to a statement from the general prosecutor’s office.
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![Riot police form a line in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, in this video frame grab acquired December 17. Striking oil and gas workers began fighting efforts to disperse their encampment in the city centre December 16 to make way for an Independence Day celebration. As of December 19 the death toll had reached 14. [REUTERS/STAN TV/K PLUS TV/via REUTERS TV]](/shared/images/2011/12/19/kzzh.jpg)
Riot police form a line in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, in this video frame grab acquired December 17. Striking oil and gas workers began fighting efforts to disperse their encampment in the city centre December 16 to make way for an Independence Day celebration. As of December 19 the death toll had reached 14. [REUTERS/STAN TV/K PLUS TV/via REUTERS TV]
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![Riot police stand near a toppled artificial New Year's tree in the Zhanaozen central square, in this video frame grab acquired December 17. [REUTERS/STAN TV/K PLUS TV/via REUTERS TV]](/shared/images/2011/12/19/kzzh2.jpg)
Riot police stand near a toppled artificial New Year's tree in the Zhanaozen central square, in this video frame grab acquired December 17. [REUTERS/STAN TV/K PLUS TV/via REUTERS TV]
But local residents say the situation is still tense and peaceful protests were reported in Aktau and Almaty December 17 and 18.
The violence erupted December 16 when authorities reportedly tried to force striking oil and gas workers from Zhanaozen's central square for a celebration of the country’s 20th anniversary of independence. The violence in Zhanaozen has claimed 14 lives, wounded 86 and led to more than 80 arrests, according to the general prosecutor's office.
The events in Zhanaozen were “purely local,” Yermukhamet Yertsybayev, adviser to President Nursultan Nazarbayev, said in an interview with media Monday.
“Despite all this, the majority of the population supports our president,” he said. Yertsybayev went on to suggest those responsible for the violence may not be Kazakhstanis, but could be from other Central Asian countries.
Yertysbayev called on different party leaders to refrain from inflammatory statements and also added that exiled former Nazarbayev son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev could be behind the unrest. A sympathy protest in London over the weekend aroused Yertysbayev’s suspicion of Aliyev’s involvement. There was no official confirmation he was involved. Some people said Yertysbayev was downplaying the aftermath.
“About 200 people, by my count, have been arrested,” said Senek Akmatov, a rights activist from Mangistau Oblast. “The arrests kept coming Saturday and Sunday. Their relatives don’t know where they are.”
Ainur Kurmanov, head of the Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan, also worried about a high number of arrests while announcing the creation of a public commission to investigate the December 16 events in Zhanaozen.
“An anxious calm” prevails in Zhanaozen, said local resident Dariga Kosymbetova. “Children have been sent on early vacation. You don’t see any public transport or people on the street. Everybody’s staying home. The stores aren’t open. Those that are have almost no food. The police presence is already less noticeable, but all the same the tension is perceptible.”
Many oil workers remain fearful of going to work, which could affect production, Akmatov added.
Rights organisations December 19 demanded an objective official investigation of the Zhanaozen events.
“If the event had a purely local character, then why was there a cabinet session on security?” Akmatov asked, referring to a December 17 meeting at which Nazarbayev said that lawbreakers attacked police, destroyed holiday yurts and set fire to a police bus.
The governor’s office of Mangistau Oblast also discussed the event, according to its press office. Officials considered how to restore order and repair 46 damaged buildings and promised to “review the complaints of city residents who suffered from looting.”
Meanwhile, sympathy protests occurred in Almaty December 17 and in Aktau December 18. In Aktau December 18, more than 400 young oil workers demanded a pay raise for all oil workers and a national day of mourning. First Vice-Premier Umurzak Shukeyev, chief of the State Commission for Zhanaozen, and senators from Mangistau met with the demonstrators, whom police outnumbered, eyewitnesses said.
Meanwhile, the general prosecutor’s office issued a series of announcements about the Zhanaozen December 16 unrest, which it blamed on aggression by about 800 “hooligans” against 120 “unarmed police,” according to spokesman Nurdaulet Suindikov.
The unrest started at 11am when the “hooligans” tried to block the path of peaceful Independence Day marchers, Suindikov said, adding it turned into outright violence at 11.40am when one of the culprits used an unidentified object to bash a truck carrying food for the celebration. The violence lasted six hours, he said.
Yelena Kalinina contributed to this report.
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Reader Comments
Why have not they put into jails those officials responsible for back wages? There is a criminal punishment for it. Clearly, they have millions. Doctors and teachers are mostly women, while men did not bring their wages home because they did not get paid. We have run out of patience. When will we be the masters of our Kazakh land? We have been robbed and ridiculed, are we a herd of sheep? One cannot find a job if one is over 50. Where are our PIKs, if someone still remembers them?
They are all sheep, what are you talking about? It is ridiculous.
The officials want it. They do not just steal a certain amount of money, they do not pay people their earned wages. They have been stealing the bowels of the earth - they should be tried for it, so that they will not be tempted to steal from people. But the people are like sheep, they do not protest, it shows the government that they are the same people and everything is ok. We have been brought to a critical point - the whole country has been looted! I live in Atbasar, we had many enterprises, and they were closed down, and now they want to take down the railroad - it is scary to us what awaits us. The government is doing anything, there are more dogs than people, the roads are bad but each year they report that the roads have been repaired - they lie, we are humiliated, how can we keep on living?
I watched on TV police shooting people and then finishing them off with clubs. A morgue doctor told relatives of those killed that 20 were dead, and there were more people killed among the 20 people. When a daughter went to search for her father who went to a hospital to see his newly born grandson, she was caught, beaten and thrown into a basement, while her father crawled injured and died in a hospital. What do you call it?
The Kazakhs are all half-breed, they do not know anything about their customs and faith. They just pull each other in a pit. They will never unite.
Specially for the dumb ones: our Kazakhstan is not a one hundred percent sovereign state. In some areas sovereignty is almost non-existent (there are lads more powerful than our authorities). It is only through the tortuous movements (for them) of our leader that we have not lost our sovereignty completely. A Hussein-Ghaddafi-Milosevic-style direct action takes time and effort. Have you forgotten the 1990s? Everyone needs everything immediately. The fact is that the authorities get all the benefits, so where have you seen poor people in power? Be patient, do not just think about yourself, think about your children, grandchildren, descendants, shortly put, evolve rather than be carried away by emotions. We will have everything soon!
The entire Mendeleev's table is in our bowels, while foreigners skim the cream.
The situation has been tense in Zhanaozen for three years. It is just that the president and the country were not informed of what was happening. Oil workers have run out of patience. They had no money for New Year's gifts for their children, while rig owners prospered and sent their children to foreign schools. Few people know that Lakshmi Mittal became one of the wealthiest industrialists on the planet one year after buying the Karaganda coal field and the Temirtau Steel Works, while the retirement age for miners and steel workers was raised to 63 years (although security forces retire after 25 years of service, including compulsory duty and university)! WHERE IS JUSTICE? SO USE YOUR HEAD DEAR COMRADES...
Banu, you are off the point;)
When was it that workers had a voice?
Before you write your comments, you should find out why they went on strikes. Every person has the right, and those who can not value their labor and skills, and want to live like sheep, and cannot have there own way - let them live on! Aday
It is not the people's fault but the fault of top managers. It is their fault, another missed opportunity like in getting knowledge and education from no one knows where abroad. Again, the government is to blame for everything.
Of course, they were not get paid for 7 months. Who will like it? Any job should be paid. They think if they won't pay us there will be nothing to worry about. Nothing of the sort! People tolerated it for a while, but then the anger boiled over!
I cannot understand why such situations occur and why the owners and profit beneficiaries are some board members, while those who work and live on this land are paid a penny, and what is more they are still trying to mask it as an ethnic issue. This is not only in Kazakhstan but also everywhere where there are mineral resources. People come to your senses - you must not fight against ethnic groups, but against those who rob people.
When the Tungus meteorite struck years ago, what did Aliyev have to do with it? As long as there is a disgraced power broker, they will always have someone to blame. In fact, everything is simple, the center does not pay attention to regional issues.
Immediately after the events, a video hit the Internet filmed by Kazakh women from an apartment window. It shows unarmed strikers retreating slowly and uniformed men following them at a 30-meter distance. No contact, no threats. And suddenly they started shooting. One man fell wounded in the leg, followed by another and another. I could not find the video next day.
People do not confuse the concept of stability and theft. Everyone knows that government officials need submissive and silent slaves to keep their stolen property. People asked for decent salaries, while Kulibayev told them through a corrupt court to get away, after purchasing about 10 palaces in London for his sl-t, Ashkenazi. I cannot imagine what he buys for his wife. It all comes at the expense of Kazakh land and its resources. The trade union boss and his daughter were killed, the lawyer was imprisoned, how can we tolerate it after all? The Americans, Chinese and Turks have been pumping oil for 20 years and prospering, why not the ordinary people of Kazakhstan? I am not an oppositionist or something like that, but if a person has brains, s/he will understand everything.
BANU, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? WHAT KIND OF MALS ARE THEY? YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO INSULT THEM!!!!!! WHY ARE YOU SAYING THIS ABOUT YOUR PEOPLE??? THEY WERE FIGHTING FOR THEIR RIGHTS!!!!!!!! BEKA0596 IS RIGHT!!!! THEY ARE SELLING OFF OUR WEALTH_______
Banu, you are a mal yourself.
You are a mal yourself, Banu. The riot police were not right anyway. You should not make judgements if you do not know everything.
beka0596 Are there really clever and sane people in Kazakhstan? I completely agree with you! It is not so much China, it is Russia that is interested in tensions in Kazakhstan, and they want to absorb us.
It is simply terrible! What is it they do not have? Have faith in our president, he will not leave it like this!!!
You should not confuse the events of 1986 with the recent incident. In the past, it was an uprising against the Russian occupation, and this one was against the arbitrariness of our officials who laid their hands on the most lucrative businesses.
Manual labor has never been appreciated. What did you expect?
The article sympathizes with those who looted the town and openly defies the authorities. It is sarcastic with regards to allegedly “defenseless police officers.” If you were at the square facing the mob armed with metal bars and Molotov cocktails, the tone would have been different ... I did not like the article. It is easy to sit at a heated editorial office and write you reflections. I am sorry for wasting my time reading it.
What happened to our Kazakh land?? There was always peace here! But someone does not seem to like it! What's up with you people, are you going mad?
This region (Mangistau) generates $14 billion in revenues. Extraction per capita is higher than in Saudi Arabia, but they live on the verge of poverty. It is strange that the riots did not occur earlier. Q: Who needs the Nazarbayev-style stability? Stability, in which all the revenue goes toward Astana or is pocketed by his family. Yes, and also pocketed by the so-called Chinese investors. If the ruling circles' policy carried out all over Kazakhstan will be against the people, protests will happen in other regions. Nazarbayev's excuses would not help.
aleksandr 23 December, what else do you need? Find a good job and do not complain about it. It is just the beginning, we will overtake Europe together with Russia.
A dog's death for a dog, their time has come ...
It were police and the city akim who provoked riots in Zhanaozen by throwing a bone after their lavish meal to the striking hungry and unemployed oil workers, who were demonstrating peacefully in the squares for more than eight months, demanding wages. Kazakhs, if you love your country and your relatives, you should show solidarity with oil workers, as we see our government and president selling our treasure, our resources, our land to the Chinese, Indians and other foreigners. Any self-respecting person should side with oil workers, demanding justice. They want our national wealth to belong to the people of Kazakhstan only, not a bunch of dogs gathered in akord.
I remember 1986. I was a 3rd year student, and it was a common impulse at the time. Discontent boiled over - in our country, we felt like outcasts, could not say a Kazakh word in a public place, they forced us to speak so that others could understand. Now! I thank God that Nazarbayev governs the country. He has managed to keep the territory, the state, and I personally feel myself in peace - I do not fear for our language, for the fate of the Kazakhs, but in fact there was a real risk, the nation could disappear like the Dzhungars. As for the events in Zhanaozen, I feel shame, shame for those Kazakhs who looted and destroyed. Personally, I am in favor of a harsh punishment. These people are natural MALs (animals), without brains in their heads.
a gambler
Well, thank God! Of course, it was an unpleasant experience for Kazakhstan. But nevertheless they found a way of reconciliation. Of course, it is sad that it happened at such a price. Why did it happen that some sort of a group of instigators brought the situation to extreme? Of course, law enforcement agencies were to blame as well.
You should not discuss this way the person who is not around, you are so strange.
I hope they will establish order in the city and find those responsible and those who were behind it! After all, civilians had nothing to do with it, half of them were behind bars! I believe that our president will not leave it uninvestigated!
Now I think everything will be OK. If they brought interior troops there, then everything is clear. Now, everyone who undertakes too much will be put in their place by interior troops, and they will jail those who should be jailed. I myself served in interior troops and know how things are there. However tough they may be and whatever funding they may get from abroad, interior troops will sort out the mess there.
I will never believe that there is no big money and big people behind any political events and that their interests coincide with those of the people who "protested" and suffered. The same happened in 1986, when those who organized the protests later locked up the protesters and called them heroes afterward. There is a saying "Fools get medals, while the smart ones are paid, and the awards find the heroes."
What is going on is terrible! Why were the strikers so reckless? Bloodshed occurred because of some groups of provocateurs. Someone just had his fingers itching. The police deserve no praise either. Yes, I understand that they had to use force because of their duty. But the strikers are people, too.
NAN’s officials are real criminals!! They should be put on trial!
Akimat also promised to consider “applications from local residents affected by the looters.” It will be in the following way: After accepting an application, an official will say, "Double the damages sought. You will give me half of the money ... Or, you will get nothing!!!"
A team of patriots has never been formed. Everything is blurred. Everything revolves around one person. If a similar idiot with similar powers replaces him, a withdrawal must be prepared. I am ashamed to see how many things have not been done over the last 20 years. We are one Moscow in terms of population while having more wealth than Arabia. There is enough of everything for everybody to live a fair life. But no, the treatment of the people is diabolical instead.
Oh yes, you have excellently judged what happened. How could you say “hooligans” and “armless police”? These “hooligans” are our peaceful citizens, our Kazakhs, who just wanted to defend their rights and receive the money that they had deserved for their fair work, and that’s all. Our “armless, totally innocent police” just opened fire at them! Let’s try not to pay our nice MPs money for seven months and see what will happen!
Mangistau people went mad.
The situation reeks of a very bad smear campaign ... Absolutely different information has been reported by the media ... 15 people were first reported to have been killed, then they said that between 14 and 100 people had clashed, and now the number is 800. You are brainwashing people, without much success at that. An amateur video under the title “Police are shooting oil workers dead” or something along the lines does not show anyone firing at someone or beating someone. I have the impression that a crowd of looters ran quickly through, setting everything on fire, and the police now says, “Ouch, we did not notice anything.” How was it possible to allow such riots to take place, if you say that the police outnumbered the “rioters?”
Assalamu alaykum brothers! You will have to answer for everything that you do! One should not resort to such measures, this does not flatter you and your actions in front of other peoples and countries! This is a disgrace for the entire world! One must not do this! We are known by everyone as a peaceful people! I urge you to find a peaceful solution to these problems! Yes, there may be some problems but sabr must be preserved!
What do you call people who did acts of destruction in a square where children holding flags had come? It is a crime to wage an economic fight in such a way, timing it to coincide with the national holiday. Millions are needed for rebuilding. An honest worker will never engage in looting, robbing people and burning things. Of course, it is now easy for the instigators to talk nonsense and say that some thugs had joined them. They must be punished to the fullest extent of the law. The police is not to blame. How many of them were killed in Taraz? Seven people, many were hurt here. What, should they stand and wait for them to be killed? How much abuse police officers hear from morons of different sorts! The leaders of these strikers must be in prison. If their wage does not suit them, they must resign, work on a rotational basis in Far North, abroad - one can find a job anywhere if one wishes to. Teachers, doctors, staff of preschool institutions are paid little all their life but do not stage protests, the more such violent ones ... It is clear that someone who needs power stirred up the crowd. One feels shame for the country, they took our country for a model, as the people's peaceful nature was obvious to everyone. Our multiethnic state is the only ex-Soviet state where people of different ethnic origins get along well - and now they have given grounds for evil-speaking and gloating discussions. People! What matters most is that there is peace, that our children, our family members are alive, while power, money are transient. Let's come to our senses. This must not repeat! I offer sincere condolences to all those who was hurt or killed. The punishment for the instigators must be proportionate to the grief that they brought into the lives of innocent people.