Moscow police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev held negotiations with football fans who gathered near the Red Square on Saturday to protest the death of a Moscow Spartak supporter and promised to complete the investigation of this tragic incident.
Yegor Sviridov, 28, was killed earlier this week during a mass brawl between football fans and internal migrants from the North Caucasus in north Moscow. Police have already detained a man suspected of shooting him four times with a gun firing rubber bullets.
"If we are calling each other to order, including order in the city streets, I ask everyone to treat each other with respect," Kolokoltsev said urging the demonstrators to be patient and wait for the completion of the investigation.
He also said the police tried to minimize the use of force during the rally.
Some 1,000 hooligans and nationalists protesting Sviridov's death gathered on central Moscow's Manezh Square. They ignored police demands to disperse. The area was sealed off and police reinforcements, including riot police, arrived at the square. Three people from Russia's North Caucasus region were seriously injured after being attacked by football hooligans.
The crowd has dispersed only after negotiations with the police chief.
"At least, we have explained the position of the authorities," Kolokoltsev said.
Some 2,000 fans gathered in the center of St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, earlier on Saturday. Clashes broke out after police prevented them from marching. Lumps of ice were thrown at police officers and a road was blocked. There have been a number of arrests.
On Tuesday's some 1,000 fans blocked a busy road in the north-west of the capital and fought running battles with police in protest over Sviridov's death.
MOSCOW, December 11 (RIA Novosti)
