At least 10 people have been killed in violent clashes between police and demonstrators in an oil town in western Kazakhstan, where workers have been protesting for higher wages, authorities said.
Prosecutor General Askhat Daulbayev said that the mayor's office, a hotel and vehicles were set on fire in Zhanaozen, a city of 90,000 in the southwestern corner of the energy-rich nation.
The clashes appear to be some of the worst unrest to hit the former Soviet republic since it gained independence in 1991.
Contradictory accounts have emerged as to what precipitated the confrontation.
Daulbayev said police officers were attacked as they sought to quell a disturbance in the city centre and were forced to fire their weapons on protesters. He said 10 people were killed.
Roza Teletayeva, who said she was a former oil worker dismissed in June for taking part in a long-standing strike, said that police had surrounded a peaceful meeting of several hundred demonstrators in the morning.
"We had no idea what was going to happen, we were just standing peacefully and doing nothing," she said.
Teletayeva said police opened fire on the crowd and that she had seen at least five people dead. She said groups of angry young men later marched on the mayor's office and set it ablaze.
Footage broadcast by satellite channel K+ showed men in worker's outfits charging a stage erected for festivities to mark the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence on Friday.
Daulbayev said the headquarters of OzenMunaiGaz oil company, where the demonstrators were formerly employed, was also set alight.
A team of Interior Ministry investigators had flown to the town to identify and punish the organisers of the unrest and restore order, Daulbayev said.
Hundreds of workers at an oil facility controlled by the state-owned energy company KazMunaiGas in Zhanaozen have been protesting for better salaries and working conditions for more than six months. Almost 1,000 workers were fired in the summer for striking, but demonstrations have continued.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev has kept a tight lid on any signs of public discontent during his 20 years of rule. The apparent scale of unrest in Zhanaozen will come as a shock to Nazarbayev's government, which has also been facing an unprecedented surge in radical Islamist-inspired violence in recent months.
In a sign that Kazakhstan's authoritarian government was attempting to contain information on developments in Zhanaozen, internet users reported being unable to open independent news websites or Twitter.
Virtually all domestic media failed to cover the events throughout Friday, as lavish celebrations took place in the capital, Astana, to mark the independence anniversary.
From learning Quran online Blog
And important note that we want to discuss and share with you it is about Quran reading and doing Quran recitation online to understand it, Ramadan is the month when the beautiful the Holy Quran has been revealed. A miracle by the creator of the worlds, Allah (SWT) Should we not glorify him by reading quran the gift he has sent down for us and learn Arabic Quran by heart to feel the power of it and we as Muslim should try to learn quran with translation to understand it wile we do Quran memorization and let our heart fill will tears of glory and wash away our sins in the month of Ramadan many people teach quran and we should participate in teaching quran as much as we could because it is the noble cause to spread the word of Allah and the quran tutor will get the reword in the day of judgment “Will they not meditate on the Quran, or are there locks on the hearts”, Quran for kids , Surah Muhammad, Verse 24. Here is an interesting tajweed quran reciter where you can listen to quran from top Koran reciters and read the Koran with different translation and plz link to it and share it to promote islam
End from online Quran reciter blog
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