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Riot police try to subdue a protester. Photo: AFP

Hundreds held after Moscow race riot over murder of ethnic Russian

Peaceful protest in wake of killing blamed on Muslim migrant turns into bloody confrontation

AFP

Moscow police yesterday were holding about 400 people after the capital was rocked by some of its worst race rioting in years, sparked by the killing of an ethnic Russian, allegedly by a Muslim migrant from the Caucasus.

An initially peaceful protest in the Biryulyovo district of Moscow to protest the killing of Yegor Shcherbakov, 25, rapidly descended into bloody clashes between far-right extremists and police that left the glass doors of a shopping centre smashed and cars upturned.

The crowd chanted "Russia for Russians" and other nationalist slogans during a protest that swelled to more than 1,000 people in the industrial district of southern Moscow.

Police said 380 people had been arrested and were being questioned as part of a criminal investigation into hooliganism.

A further 14 nationalists carrying gas canisters were later arrested on a train leaving the area. Six anti-riot police were injured and two were still in hospital.

Moscow police brought in hundreds of reinforcements in a bid to deal with the crisis and enforced their extreme Vulkan operation plan, which is used in case of a terror attack.

A protester looks out from a police van after the riot in Moscow's Biryulyovo district. Photo: Reuters

Shcherbakov was murdered in Biryulyovo last week in front of his girlfriend as they walked out of a billiards club.

Reports said security footage showed his killer was a man of "non-Slavic appearance" from the Northern Caucasus, leading nationalists to conclude he was a Muslim labour migrant.

The mass-circulation said the two men had started fighting after the killer insulted the girlfriend. Shcherbakov's friends then put pictures of the suspected killer on their social network accounts in a bid to find him.

Tensions have ratcheted up in recent years in big cities like Moscow between ethnic Russians and migrants from the largely Muslim Northern Caucasus, as well as the Muslim states of ex-Soviet Central Asia.

The protesters in Biryulyovo accused the police of failing to swiftly investigate the murder and also called on the authorities of toughen up migration laws.

The topic of immigration was the single biggest issue in September's elections for Moscow mayor won by pro-Kremlin incumbent Sergei Sobyanin, with the top opposition candidate Alexei Navalny also urging a tougher line.

Sobyanin ordered a thorough investigation into Shcherbakov's murder but also called on all those responsible for the Biryulyovo riots to be brought to be dealt with.

Local police said killer had left hardly any traces and it was impossible to solve the crime in a matter of days.

After a largely peaceful protest on Saturday, the rioting on Sunday began when a group of protesters attacked a wholesale vegetable market where they thought the suspected killer was hiding.

They threw empty beer bottles at shop windows and hurled clubs and hammers at riot police who rushed to the scene.

Wholesale vegetable markets often employ large numbers of migrant workers in shadowy circumstances and Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said more had to be done to deal with the situation.

"Otherwise all provocateurs and extremists will use any possibility to get young people onto the barricades," he said.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Hundreds held after raceriot over Russian's murder
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