Few headlines generate concern in Kazakhstan like reports of protests in Zhanaozen or elsewhere in Kazakhstan’s western, oil-rich regions. On April 10, around 80 laid-off oil workers from Zhanaozen set up camp outside the Ministry of Energy in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital. As news spread that the group of dismissed oil workers had been detained in Astana, people began to gather …
On December 16, 2011, local and special police squads opened fire on unarmed residents in Zhanaozen, a city in Kazakhstan’s southwest. In human rights activist Galym Ageleuov’s documentary, “Zhanaozen Diary,” Ageleuov interviews Venera Popova, a city resident, who witnessed the events of the day of the massacre. She also said that “after the fire started in UzenMunaiGas’ office, protesting oil …
