Anti-Israeli riots took place yesterday at Dagestan's airport in Makhachkala, and 60 people were detained. Another 90 people have been identified and are apparently wanted. This was reported by the press service of the Russian Interior Ministry.
The riots were caused by the arrival of a flight from Tel Aviv. It was met by hundreds of aggressively-minded people after calls spread in telegram channels to check the airport for "refugees from Israel" arriving in the republic. The protesters attacked vehicles, broke into the airport building, tried to overturn a police car, and clashed with police. The crowd shouted anti-Semitic slogans.
Nine law enforcement officers were injured in the clashes, two of them in hospital. Among the civilians, 11 people were injured. Makhachkala airport is closed until October 31.
Assessing yesterday's events, the head of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, said that "there will be no forgiveness for anyone."
Meanwhile, the Financial Times writes that the rumors that triggered the anti-Israeli protests in the North Caucasus were fanned by the Telegram channel "Morning of Dagestan" associated with Russian ex-deputy Ilya Ponomarev, who lives in Kyiv. The publication reminded that the public channel has more than 50,000 followers.
"The violence was triggered by rumors that refugees from Israel are being resettled in a Muslim-majority region," the FT writes.
"The channel is linked to Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian politician based in Kyiv who is anti-Kremlin and claims to be coordinating a group of Russians fighting against Moscow in Ukraine, whose members are known to hold extreme right-wing views," the publication reports.
Earlier, Russian publics also wrote about the role of this Telegram channel in inciting protests.
