Racial riots, looting hit Russia
Pastor Dale Morgan
Racial riots, looting hit Russia*
Reuters
September 4, 2006; 7:43 AM
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Hundreds of people looted shops and burned a
restaurant belonging to Caucasus businessmen in an outbreak of racial
violence in northwestern Russia triggered by the recent killing of two
locals, Russian media said on Sunday.
Special police were sent into the town of Kondopoga in Karelia, to quell
a riot sparked by a rally of up to 2,000 locals demanding the eviction
of all Caucasus-born traders.
Hundreds of people -- many drunk -- marched through the town and looted
shops held by Caucasus businessmen. They later stoned and burned down a
restaurant were the two locals were killed in a brawl last week. The
deaths are blamed on Caucasus natives.
Looters were on the rampage until early morning on Sunday in the town
near the Finnish border, setting ablaze several more shops and cars
before police finally regained control, said independent radio Ekho Moskvy.
Amateur video footage run on Russian television channels featured police
in full riot gear flanked nearby but not interfering while the crowd was
plundering the restaurant.
There were no reports on casualties after the riot.
Regional head Sergei Katanandov, speaking on Karelian television,
appealed for restraint although he said he understood "the justified
anger and indignation of citizens." He said more than 100 looters had
been detained.
"Inter-ethnic hatred surfaced in Kondopoga after the killing, and it was
exploited by hooligans who provoked disturbances and set shops on fire,"
Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Ekho Moskvy said Kondopoga was still tense, while the local council was
awaiting a response from Karelia's parliament to its demand to
officially evict all Caucasus residents from the town.
"The authorities do not rule out new riots," the radio said.
Police were not immediately available for comment. Official Rossiya
television said this was a "commercial dispute."
Outbursts of racial violence are not uncommon in Russia where xenophobia
has flourished since the collapse of communism.
Last month a bomb at a Russian market selling Asian goods killed 11
people, mostly from ex-Soviet Central Asia. Three men have detained on
suspicion of racially-inspired crime.