ASTANA. April 12 (Interfax) - A total of 126 oil workers, who protested near the Kazakh Energy Ministry's building and demanded employment, were detained in Astana on Tuesday, Kazakh Deputy Prosecutor General Zhandos Umiraliyev said.
"In all, 120 to 126 people were taken [to police stations]. All of them have been released," Umiraliyev said in the parliament on Wednesday.
Five participants in the illegal demonstration were given warnings, he said.
On April 10, about 150 Zhanaozen-based workers sacked by Berali Mangistau Company, an oilfield services firm, gathered in front of the Energy Ministry building in Astana and demanded that their employment be arranged with Ozenmunaigas, a subsidiary of KazMunayGas. They said they were fired because their company lost a tender. The protesters spent the night and the whole day outside. On April 11, police detained more than 100 protesters.
According to Kazakh media outlets and eyewitnesses, about 2,000 people gathered on the central square of Zhanaozen on April 11 to demand the release of oil workers from custody in Astana.
KazMunayGas said on Wednesday morning that all former workers of Berali Mangistau Company, detained in Astana, were released from custody and took a train to Zhanaozen.