MOSCOW, October 13 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Interior Minister on Sunday told police to prioritize law enforcement in the city’s food markets, in the wake of unrest in the city’s south.
Everyone must work in accordance with Russian law “irrespective of what region they come from,” Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said, during a snap meeting Sunday evening.
He called the meeting after protests in southern Moscow over a fatal stabbing escalated into violence targeting local businesses that employ migrant workers.
Local law enforcement agencies have circulated CCTV footage of a man they believe to be a suspect. Russian media have identified the alleged attacker as a migrant.
The unrest started on Saturday, when locals gathered outside police headquarters demanding that action, such as closing a local vegetable market that employs migrants, be taken in order to apprehend the suspect.
On Sunday another protest took place, attracting more participants from outside the area, and lawmakers. A group of people stormed a local shopping center, breaking glass and setting off smoke bombs. Seven people were detained for hooliganism over this incident, police said.
Protesters then headed to the local vegetable market, overturning trash cans to block roads, and there were scuffles with police, journalists at the scene reported.
As of 23:38 Moscow time, police in the Russian capital confirmed that 380 people had been detained in the city’s southern district, and that five policemen had been injured in the operation.
Speaking on Sunday, Kolokoltsev said that, from Monday, checking that all food markets were operating in accordance with Russian law would be a priority, and stressed that this work would create a “healthier environment in the city.”
He warned those present that “all these provocateurs and extremists will use any opportunity to get the young people out onto the barricades,” if the authorities do not act.
Also speaking on Sunday, the Russian Migration Service press spokesperson stressed that it regularly carries out checks on businesses in the region, including the vegetable market.
