KONDOPOGA SCENARIO
by Kira Latukhina
RusData Dialine – Russian Press Digest
September 18, 2006 Monday
New cases of ethnic conflicts registered in the Volga Federal District
Stoking fears of escalating xenophobia, a man died in a brawl
involving ethnic Armenians in the Saratov region last week and three
people were hospitalized after an attack on an anti-migration rally
in St. Petersburg on Sunday. State Duma deputies sounded the alarm
about a surge in violence. But they also approved legislation that
would increase penalties for those who employ illegal migrants –
a populist vote, critics said, that tapped into widespread xenophobia.
The country is on edge after clashes and riots targeting Chechens in
the Karelian town of Kondopoga killed two people earlier this month.
Local residents clashed with four ethnic Armenians in a cafe in the
town of Volsk on Sept. 10, Saratov regional police said Friday. Three
ethnic Russians suffered knife wounds, and one later died in the
hospital. Police and the local Armenian diaspora downplayed suggestions
that the fight was racially motivated. But Ekho Moskvy radio reported
the fight was followed the next day by an attack on ethnic Armenians
at a Volsk technical college that injured one student. Police denied
the report and said two ethnic Armenians involved in the cafe fight
had been placed on a national wanted list.
On Sunday, masked people attacked a rally by the radical Movement
Against Illegal Immigration in St. Petersburg, sparking a fight
that led to three people being hospitalized. About 30 activists were
attending the rally to demand the expulsion of Caucasus natives from
Kondopoga, where people raided and destroyed small businesses run by
Caucasus natives after two locals were stabbed to death in a fight
with Chechen migrants. St. Petersburg police said 21 attackers,
who identified themselves as members of an anti-Nazi movement,
were detained.
One of the victims was stabbed with a knife, while the other two
suffered head injuries. It was unclear whether the victims were
protesters or attackers. The Movement Against Illegal Immigration also
organized a rally Thursday in Moscow to protest Caucasus natives in
Russian universities. Police tried to prevent the rally by detaining
about 200 young men near the Dobryninskaya metro station.
Also Thursday, several dozen young men, some of them described by
witnesses as skinheads, participated in a fight inside the Oktyabrskaya
metro station. No one was detained.