One killed in Kazakhstan protest

One person was killed and 11 wounded when police fired on rioters in a town in the tense south-west of Kazakhstan.

The Prosecutor General’s office said the violence happened in the town of Shetpe, in the same region as the city of Zhanaozen where 13 people died in a clash with police on Friday.

Shetpe was flooded with police today.

Officials said about 300 demonstrators supporting the Zhanaozen victims blocked railway traffic for several hours and after police tried to force them away, a group of about 50 set a locomotive on fire, then moved into the town where they broke windows and set the municipal Christmas tree ablaze.

Zhanaozen has been the site of a sit-in by oil workers seeking higher wages. Many of those workers were fired over the summer.

Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry blamed the clashes on a small group of provocateurs allegedly set on disrupting a public celebration marking the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence.

Kazakhstan’s president has imposed a three-week state of emergency in Zhanaozen.