Tension mounts as hooligans, racial minorities clash

Moscow (AP):

Fearing more clashes between racist hooligans and ethnic minorities, Russian police detained 1,000 people in a stand-off near a Moscow train station yesterday, taking a strong stance against far right extremists after weekend rioting left dozens injured.

Hundreds of riot police outside the Kievsky station hauled mostly young men and teenagers shouting racist slogans into police vans. Some were lined up against buses and searched by police. Officers confiscated an arsenal of weapons, including knives and metal bars, police spokesman Viktor Biryukov said.

Resentment has been rising among Slavic Russians over the growing presence in Moscow and elsewhere of people from the southern Caucasus region, the home of numerous ethnic groups, most of them Muslim. People from other parts of the former Soviet Union, including Central Asia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, also face ethnic discrimination and are frequent victims of hate crimes.

calling for violence

The train station is popular with street merchants from the Caucasus. The majority of those detained were Slavic Russians shouting racist slogans and calling for violence, although some ethnic minorities from the Caucasus were also taken into custody.

Police declined immediate comment on when they could be released or whether they face any charges.