Tag Archives: protest

Mob attacks mining camp in Kyrgyzstan

OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A mob of 200 people attacked the office of Manas Resources, an Australian mining company, in southern Kyrgyzstan where it is developing a gold mine, Reuters reported. Over the past few years, disgruntled nationalists have targeted foreign-owned mines to win concessions from companies and to destabilise the government.

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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)

Protest erupts in Kyrgyzstan’s main gold mine

OCT. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Around 200 people protested in east Kyrgyzstan against a potential deal between the Kyrgyz government and Toronto-listed Centerra Gold over ownership of the Kumtor Gold mine. Media reported that the protesters kidnapped the regional governor briefly. Anti-government groups are likely to have organised the protests.

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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)

Opposition holds protest in Azerbaijan

AUG. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An estimated 3,000 supporters of Azerbaijan’s opposition parties held a rare sanctioned rally on the outskirts of Baku. They waved placards and called for a fair presidential election in October. The mayor’s office only sanctioned the rally for the outskirts of Baku.

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(News report from Issue No. 148, published on Aug. 19 2013)

Oil workers go on strike in western Kazakhstan

JULY 8 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — More than 200 workers at a subcontractor for oil fields service company Cape International Plc and Manpower Ltd in Atyrau, west Kazakhstan, went on strike for two days over job losses, media quoted the local prosecutor-general’s office as saying. The workers are employed on the Kashagan oil project in the Caspian Sea.

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(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)

Kazakh government accused of torture

JULY 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Human rights lobby group Amnesty International released a report accusing the Kazakh government of using torture on prisoners. The report focused on people detained during the 2011 clashes between protesters and police in Zhanaozen, west Kazakhstan. The Kazakh government has previously refuted allegations of torture.

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(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)

More protests in Kyrgyzstan over gold mine

JUNE 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Roughly 500 people protested near the Kumtor gold mine in east Kyrgyzstan, media reported, the latest in a series of protests against the Canadian owners of the mine. The protesters want the mine nationalised. Toronto-listed Centerra Gold owns Kumtor, the biggest industrial project in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz government owns a third of Centerra Gold.

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(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)

Kazakhstan undergoes a pension reform

JUNE 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government wants to modernise its pension system. Among other things this means making women work five years longer until they are 63, in line with men.

The logic appears simple but the issue has hit a nerve and triggered a rare show of ground-level dissent.

But, if the public dissent was rare, the government’s climb-down has been little short of extraordinary.

On June 11 Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, ever watchful for an opportunity to flourish his man-of-the-people credentials, sacked labour minister Serik Abdenov who had been charged with pushing through the pension reforms.

Mr Abdenov had cut an increasingly forlorn and isolated figure. Audiences have openly laughed at him, he has stumbled over his words when trying to explain the reforms and a protester has pelted him with eggs.

But the climb-down didn’t stop there.

Mr Nazarbayev has also said that the entire pension reform needs to be looked at once again and suggested that the changes should come into effect in 2018 and not in 2014. Since Mr Nazarbayev’s intervention state-influenced media have been putting out stories suggesting that the pension reforms have gone too far.

In Kazakhstan, this is code for a rare government U-turn.

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(News report from Issue No. 139, published on June 17 2013)

Kumtor production resumes in Kyrgyzstan

JUNE 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Production resumed at the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan after the authorities lifted a state of emergency. Protesters demanding more benefits from the mine had blockaded the site and clashed with police. The Kyrgyz government and Toronto-listed Centerra Gold, which owns the mine, put a Sept. 10 deadline on talks for a new Kumtor ownership deal.

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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)

A rare public protest in Kazakhstan

JUNE 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — About 30 homeowners protested in central Almaty against excessive interest rate repayments on their mortgages, media reported. This protest was important as it was a relatively rare public demonstration in Kazakhstan. Personal debt repayments have become a potentially thorny issue for the government.

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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)

Emergency in Kyrgyzstan after Kumtor protest

MAY 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz authorities declared a state of emergency around the Kumtor gold mine in the east of the country after thousands of protesters demanding more financial benefits clashed with police. The Kumtor gold mine, Kyrgyzstan’s biggest industrial project, is owned by Toronto-listed Centerra Gold. The Kyrgyz government owns a 33% stake in Centerra Gold.

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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)