Members of the Socialist Party today held a picket today outside an Esso garage in Ranelagh to protest at the involvement of its parent company, Exxon Mobil Corporation, in a joint venture with the Kazakh oil company KazMunaiGas.
It came after at least 10 people were killed in violent clashes between police and demonstrators in an oil town in western Kazakhstan where hundreds of workers have been protesting for higher wages at an oil facility controlled by the state-owned energy company KazMunaiGas for more than six months.
Socialist Party MEP, Paul Murphy, said that his sources indicated that the death toll might be higher than the 10 reported deaths.
“All state forces must immediately be withdrawn from the region and independent, international inquiry be launched into today’s events,” he said.
Several people were also wounded after protesters stormed a stage in the oil city of Zhanaozen and set fire to the city administration building and the local headquarters of London-listed oil firm KazMunaiGas Exploration Production.
Violent protests scarcely occur in Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest economy and oil producer, where Nursultan Nazarbayev (71) has ruled for more than 20 years and who has overseen massive foreign investment, mainly in oil and gas.
In a speech yesterday, Mr Nazarbayev stressed the need to preserve stability in the country of 16.6 million people, which has also witnessed an unprecedented spate of attacks by Islamist militants this year.
The clashes in Zhanaozen, a city of 90,000 people about 150 km inland from the Caspian Sea, marred celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence from the Soviet Union.
Additional reporting Reuters