Train burnt as Kazakh Zhanaozen oil unrest spreads

[John Ashworth]

Train burnt as Kazakh Zhanaozen oil unrest spreads

BBC 18 December 2011 Last updated at 09:41 GMT

Unrest in western Kazakhstan has spread, with one person shot dead and 11 others injured as police opened fire on protesters blocking a railway.

Most of the protesters in the village of Shetpe dispersed after a warning but a group of 50 allegedly began rioting, setting a freight locomotive on fire.

Police opened fire after coming under attack, prosecutors said.

The protesters were demonstrating in support of striking oil workers in the nearby town of Zhanaozen, they added.

Riots in the town on Friday left 11 people dead and dozens injured.

This is the deadliest unrest to have hit Kazakhstan since its independence from the Soviet Union 20 years ago, the BBC's Rayhan Demytrie reports from the Kazakh city of Almaty.

Events in Shetpe could not be verified independently and three Russian journalists deployed to cover events in Zhanaozen were arrested on Sunday.

Gunshot wounds

Protesters blocked the line at 13:24 (08:24 GMT) on Saturday, halting a passenger train carrying 300 people from Mangyshlak to Aktobe, prosecutors said in a statement.

They "made calls to support the participants in the mass unrest in Zhanaozen" and their action delayed seven passenger and three freight trains.

After warnings, most of the crowd dispersed but some 50 protesters continued to block the line and police moved in around 20:00.

In response, the protesters set fire to a freight locomotive and threw petrol bombs at the wagons, then ran riot in the village, burning a New Year's tree, and smashing shop and car windows.

When police came under attack with petrol bombs and stones, they were forced to use their weapons, the prosecutors said.

Twelve people were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds and one of them died.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev declared a 20-day state of emergency in Zhanaozen on Saturday.

The violence there apparently began when oil workers locked in a pay dispute stormed a stage erected for an Independence Day party and smashed sound equipment.

They reportedly later set fire to the city hall, the headquarters of a local oil company, a hotel and dozens of other buildings and vehicles.

Eyewitnesses said police had fired on unarmed protesters but the authorities say they were forced to defend themselves.

Eighty-six people were injured - according to official figures - and some had to be taken to hospital in Aktau, some 150km (90miles) away, due to a shortage of beds in Zhanaozen.

On Sunday, lenta.ru news website correspondent Ilya Azar was arrested in Zhanaozen along with a Kommersant newspaper team, Vladimir Solovyov and Vasily Shaposhnikov, their publications confirmed. No explanation for their detention was given, Kommersant says.

Azar tweeted on Saturday to say he and the others had just taken off from Moscow for Aktau. His Twitter account has not been active since his departure.