Police take control of Russia's Dagestan airport after anti-Israeli
protests
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[October 30, 2023]
(Reuters) -Russian police have taken over an airport in
the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region and arrested 60 people after
hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the facility on Sunday when a
plane from Israel arrived, the interior ministry said on Monday.
Videos obtained by Reuters from the airport at Makhachkala, the regional
capital, showed the protesters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian
flags, breaking down glass doors and running through the airport on
Sunday evening shouting "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Greatest".
Another group was seen trying to topple over a patrol truck.
Twenty people were wounded at the airport before security forces
contained the unrest, local authorities said. The passengers on the
plane were safe, security forces told Reuters.
The unrest followed several other anti-Israel incidents in recent days
in Russia's North Caucasus region in response to Israel's war against
Hamas militants in Gaza.
The local Dagestani government said earlier that it was strengthening
security measures across the republic, which is home to about 3 million
people.
The unrest in the region, where Russian security forces once fought an
Islamist insurgency, is a headache for Russian President Vladimir Putin,
who is waging a war in Ukraine and is keen to maintain stability at home
ahead of an expected presidential election next year.
The Russian Aviation Authority has closed the airport for flights until
it completes security checks.
The interior ministry, in its statement, said the identity of 150 of
what it called the most active protesters had been identified. It said
the authorities were looking to track down everyone involved.
"At present, the airport is fully under the control of law enforcement
agencies," the ministry said.
Sergei Melikov, the head of Dagestan, said the incident was a gross
violation of the law, even as Dagestanis "empathise with the suffering
of victims of the actions of unrighteous people and politicians, and
pray for peace in Palestine".
"There is no courage in waiting as a mob for unarmed people who have not
done anything forbidden," Melikov said on the Telegram messaging app.
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![](../../31/images/103023PIX/news_n96.jpg)
Pro-Palestinian protesters storm an airport building, in
Makhachkala, Russia, October 29, 2023, in this screengrab taken from
a video obtained by Reuters. Video Obtained by Reuters/via REUTERS
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Regional leaders in two other areas of the northern Caucasus called
for calm. A similar appeal was issued by Dagestan's chief Muslim
cleric, or mufti.
Israel urged Russian authorities to protect Israelis and Jews in
their jurisdictions.
In the past few days, a Jewish centre under construction in Nalchik,
the capital of the nearby Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria,
was set on fire, emergency officials said.
There have also been reports on social media of small anti-Israeli
gatherings over the weekend in Dagestan and across the North
Caucasus in Russia's south. Reuters could not independently verify
those reports.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blamed the events on
Russia's "widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which
is propagated by state television, pundits, and authorities". There
was no immediate comment from the Kremlin.
Russia, which wants an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and backs a
two-state solution, has tried to maintain contact with all sides in
the Israel-Hamas conflict, but has angered Israeli authorities by
inviting a Hamas delegation to Moscow. Israel's foreign ministry
summoned the Russian ambassador on Sunday.
(Reporting by Reuters. Writing by Andrew Osborn, Lidia Kelly, Dan
Williams, Ron Popeski Editing by Hugh Lawson and Lisa Shumaker and
Miral Fahmy)
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