Hundreds of Kazakhs took to the streets on Thursday to accuse the government of not doing enough to shake off the country's Soviet era legacy and to demand a stronger national identity.

The rally came against a backdrop of growing discontent with the government of Kazakhstan because of economic crisis that has hit the oil-dominated economy hard since 2007.
 

Like other parts of Central Asia, Kazakhstan was long dominated by Russia, first under the Tsars and then as part of the Soviet Union.
 

Independent since the 1991 Soviet collapse, Kazakhstan - now the region's biggest economy and oil producer - has retained a Soviet style of governance.
 

In a rare protest in a state which tolerates little dissent, hundreds gathered on Thursday to mark the anniversary of riots in 1986 triggered by Moscow's decision to appoint an ethnic Russian to a senior post.
 

"This is the land of Kazakhs!" shouted the protesters on the main square in the financial capital Almaty.
 

A day earlier, protesters said police detained a dozen people during an attempt to hold a similar rally in Almaty. There was no trouble on Thursday as police looked on.
 

Ethnic Kazakhs make up two thirds of Kazakhstan's population. Russians are the largest ethnic minority group, followed by Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Uighurs and others.
 

Russian is still the official lingua franca although Kazakh is widely spoken at home - an arrangement resented by those who feel that Kazakh, a Turkic language, should be dominant.
 

The government has promoted the idea of ethnic and religious equality in the steppe nation of 16 million, saying that the principle of peaceful coexistence is key to stability.
 

Protesters also criticised the government for allowing neighbouring China to increase its influence in Kazakhstan and snap up its energy assets.
 

Opposition leader Bolat Abilov told the crowd: "We will not allow our land to be ceded to China."
 

Source: Reuters