Holiday with blood in half

The celebration of the Independence Day of Kazakhstan in the west of the republic turned into a tragedy. About three thousand inhabitants of the oil city of Zhanaozen (former New Kneen) that on the Mangistau Peninsula (former Mangyshlak) were involved in riots, as a result of which, according to the latest data, about 90 people were killed, 46 buildings were burned. President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev on December 17 introduced a state of emergency in the city. Until January 5, Janaozen has a commandant hour, traffic is limited, rallies are prohibited, photo and video shooting and the use of copying and multiplicing equipment are limited. In Zhanaozen, for about six months, the protest of the working oil company Ozenmunaygaz has been going on. They announced a strike, demanding an increase in salaries. Although the earnings of local oil workers are superior to income in other regions of the country, in particular, they are not satisfied with the fact that foreign specialists working with them receive much more.

The requirements of the strikers were not heard, moreover, they were treated from work, but they continued to go out to the square and achieve their. We went out on Independence Day. However, on the same day, the city authorities decided to hold their own - festive - rally. The confrontation resulted in disorder.

According to the same, the authorities sent a column of youth and children with banners and flags to the square, the movement of which was prevented by the protesting oil workers and those who came to support them. According to others, a police car was deliberately directed to the crowd of protesters.

As a result, the miners dispersed the police and defeated the stands built for the solemn rally - this is clearly visible on the frames of the video posted in YouTube, shot by Kazakhstani television company K+. After that, protesters, armed with sticks, metal rods, trimming pipes and bottles with incendiary mixture, demolished the New Year tree in the square, scattered festive yurts, set fire to the local administration, the office building of Ozenmunaygaz and the hotel. It is also reported about a burned police bus.

Units of internal troops from the neighboring regional center of Aktau advanced to Zhanaozen. According to some reports, troops used tear gas and firearms against participants in unrest.

The authorities of Kazakhstan blocked access to mobile communications and some Internet resources (in particular, to the Twitter microblog, to the sites of a number of news agencies and the media) in the Mangistau region.

The Prosecutor General of the Republic Askhat Daulbaev said at a briefing in Astana that 10 people were killed during the riots in Zhanaozen. He also stated that the local population did not support the riots of former oil workers.

These events occurred exactly 25 years after commemorative unrest on the former L.I. Brezhnev Square in Alma-Ata in December 1986, when the riots were caused by the removal of the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan Dinmukhammed Kunaev and the appointment of Gennady Kolbin to this position. Exactly five years later, the declaration of independence of Kazakhstan was adopted, and this day began to celebrate as a national holiday.

Zhanaozen - “hot” place. Back in 1989, unrest flashed there-immediately after the Ferghana. Then local oil workers protested against the dominance of workers from the Caucasus. Later there were clashes with the Turks-Conshetians ... Some Kazakh analysts associate this with the difficult disposition of Kazakh-Adais who live in these places.

At the same time, socio-economic problems in the region are becoming more acute. Experts claim that local oil fields are depleted, and the authorities are in no hurry to build new settlements and transport oil workers with families from weakened single -industry towns.