MOSCOW, October 13 (RIA Novosti) – Unrest sparked by a local murder and discontent with the government’s policy on migration saw an obscure neighborhood of Moscow make the big-time on Sunday – as the Cyrillic word Biryulovo became a global trend on microblogging site Twitter.
To go global on Twitter, a word needs to be used a minimum of 10,000 to 20,000 times an hour. The Russian word Biryulovo, #Бирюлево, a neighborhood in southern Moscow, spent about 30 minutes trending globally on the site, RIA Novosti reports.
The word has held top spot in the Russian Twitter-sphere for much of Sunday afternoon-evening, and #Moscow has held its own in the top 10, RIA Novosti reports.
On Thursday, a young man was fatally stabbed in Biryulovo in southern Moscow. The attacker fled the scene. Police circulated pictures of a man who is wanted in connection with the incident, and who has been identified in the Russian media as a migrant.
Several dozen protestors gathered on Saturday outside the local police headquarters to demand the assailant be brought to justice, also calling for places where migrants work – such as a nearby vegetable market – to be closed down, and for tougher controls on migration.
More people turned out to protest on Sunday, up to 1,000 by some estimates. While Saturday's events passed largely without incident, Sunday saw violence and scuffles with police as protestors targeted local shops that employ migrants.
Story amended on Oct. 15 modifying reference to murder time: Russian police and Investigative Committee identify it as the night of Thursday-Friday, and Wednesday-Thursday, respectively.
