More than 200 rioters are detained in Moscow

The unrest followed the murder of a 25-year-old ethnic Russian Yegor Shcherbakov, was stabbed to death by a man believed to be from the North Caucasus.

Moscow police have detained some 1,200 migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus at a vegetable warehouse, a day after some of the worst antimigrant unrest in the Russian capital in three years.

Let us recall that on October 13, the rioting broke out after a rally in the Biryulevo district of the capital to demand more action from authorities to apprehend the unidentified assailant. A group of protesters, some chanting racist slogans, broke into a shopping center, smashing windows; others tried to storm a vegetable warehouse that employs migrant workers but were pushed back by police.

Eight people, including two policemen, remain hospitalized as a result of the skirmishes. A total of 23 people, including eight police officers, were reported injured.

As RFE/RL reports, some 400 rioters were detained, but the majority were released hours later. Seventy of those detained were asked to return for questioning, and two of the detainees are still in custody.

Moscow police say they have launched a criminal case into the riots. Police said on October 14 that 3 million rubles (almost $93,000) in cash, as well as knives, a bat, and three guns were found in a vehicle on the warehouse territory.

Aleksandr Polovinka, deputy chief of Moscow's southern police district, described the rally earlier on October 13 as peaceful. "People who are not indifferent to the situation of public order protection in the areas where they live came [to the local police station and] we had a conversation," Polovinka said. "Perhaps it was rather stormy outside the station, but once we got inside and sat around the table it became much more substantive as we could calmly discuss problematic issues and make concrete decisions in order for us to somehow join our efforts in defense of law and order."

Police Response

Sporadic clashes and arrests continued into the night, although police said they had regained control of the affected areas by around 10:30 p.m. local time. Witnesses reported police helicopters circling in the dark over the Biryulevo district.

Police cut off all traffic in the area and shut down a major highway as a precaution.

On October 13, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev met with top ministry officials in Moscow over the violence. Kolokoltsev urged law enforcement officials to check all vegetable warehouses in the Russian capital for both illegal migrants and possible suspects in the murder.

"Literally tomorrow, activate the work in relation to all of the vegetable warehouses, which are a constant source of tension, especially in the districts that surround those warehouses," Kolokoltsev said.

"I am asking the head of the [Moscow] police and I'm asking all managers who are on call of duty, who participate in this work, to quickly deal with these warehouses, bring order, make everyone work according to Russian law, where they are located, where they work, regardless of the region they came from."

Kolokoltsev stressed that all of the inspections should be done as soon as possible to prevent unrest in the city.

"I really hope that this work will improve the situation in the city," he said. "Otherwise, all those provocateurs and extremists will definitely use this opportunity to call on young people to the barricades to make a judgment no one needs."

Number

After the violence broke out, the deputy chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Rushan Abbyasov, urged Moscow youth of all nationalities to prevent the situation in Biryulevo from escalating.

Abbyasov added that the incident will not affect upcoming celebrations by hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Moscow of Eid al-Adha, known in the former Soviet Union as Kurban-Bairam. This year, the three-day Muslim holiday, which marks the end of the hajj, starts on October 15.

Several Russian lawmakers have voiced concern that the situation could further deteriorate.

"Perhaps it is worth thinking of reinstating municipal police," Mikhail Starshinov, the deputy chairman of Russian Duma's Committee on National Minorities, suggested. "It would be a kind of [citizens] militia, but its activities would have legal basis and authority. It would be made up of local residents aware of their responsibility to defend fellow citizens."

He also said that additional security measures will be taken during the celebrations. While "the majority of our Muslim citizens are very educated, adequate, and respected people," Starshinov said, "black sheep are among all the groups -- Muslims, Christians, or Jews."

Meanwhile, the majority of shops and warehouses in Moscow where migrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus often work remain closed.

The Tajik Embassy has urged its citizens living in Moscow not to go to work until the situation calms down.

Earlier on October 13, thousands of people had protested peacefully, demanding justice over the killing on October 10 of a 25-year-old local man identified as Yegor Shcherbakov.

The subsequent protest turned violent when a group of mainly young men broke off and smashed windows at a shopping center before trying to storm a vegetable warehouse that employs migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Scuffles erupted when police moved in to try to make arrests. Protesters threw bottles at police, who fought back with batons.

Ethnic Tension

It was the worst violence over migrants in Moscow since December 2010, when several thousand youths rioted outside the Kremlin after the killing of an ethnic Russian soccer fan that was blamed on a man from the North Caucasus.

Violence has flared in other Russian cities as well between the Slavic majority and people with roots in the mostly Muslim North Caucasus, ex-Soviet South Caucasus states and Central Asia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of such dangers in the multi-ethnic country. Earlier this month, he said Russia needed migrant labour in industries like construction but suggested their numbers could be cut in some others, including trade.

According to RFE/RL