MOSCOW: Russian football fans and ultranationalists ran riot in the centre of Moscow on Saturday, when a demonstration against the death of a fan descended into violence that left 13 people hospitalised. Thousands of fans, supported by members of far-right groups, gathered in Manezhnaya Square near the Kremlin for the unauthorised protest, with some shouting slogans such as “Russia for Russians” and performing Nazi salutes, according to an AFP photographer.
They were protesting the death of Yegor Sviridov, a Spartak Moscow fan who was shot in the head last Saturday during a fight with men from the Russian Caucasus. The incident has exposed the close links between Russian extremists and football supporters, and is a major embarrassment for the country so soon after it won the right to host the FIFA World Cup in 2018. As many as 5,000 people, many wearing hoods and scarves to cover their faces, descended on the square, and fighting quickly broke out when protestors threw flares and objects at anti-riot police. Several dozen supporters suffered injuries as they fought with police, while demonstrators also violently attacked at least five men of Caucasus origin, who were seen with bleeding faces. A total of 65 people were arrested, according to police.
“Thirteen people including police officers have been hospitalised,” said Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, who blamed the violence on “left-wing extremists”. Protestors beat up a cameraman of state news agency RIA Novosti and smashed his camera. Security was reinforced in the Moscow metro system after demonstrators smashed a number of barriers, Russian news agencies reported. Moscow police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev said he had been to the square to talk with demonstrators, and confirmed that police had kept force to a minimum.
In May, two men robbed an Internet cafe, but one of them made the mistake of logging into Facebook and forgetting to log out. The flub led police right to him, Gizmodo notes.
Comments are closed.