Zhanaozen – a town of 100,000 inhabitants, located on the Mangystau peninsula in Kazakhstan, is a place where, in December 2011, Kazakh security forces brutally suppressed the strike of oil workers. As a result of these events, according to official data, at least 17 people were killed on the spot. Unofficially, the death toll is estimated to be around 100. On the second anniversary of the tragic events, an exhibition commemorating the strike and its pacification was opened in Warsaw.
The official opening of the exhibition in Harenda hotel in Warsaw was attended by, among others, Kazakh opposition activist and director Bolat Atabayev, editor-in-chief of the ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ newspaper Adam Michnik, member of the Polish parliament Marcin Święcicki and representatives of the Open Dialog Foundation. From Monday, 9 December, to Thursday, 19 December, the collection of 27 photographs was exhibited at the main gate of the University of Warsaw.