VICIOUS RACE RIOTS IN RUSSIA…SEE THE PICTURES
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8199329/Dmitry-Medvedev-promises-football-racism-crack-down.html
Dmitry Medvedev promises football racism crack down
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has vowed to punish far-right football fans who staged a vicious race riot at the weekend.
By Andrew Osborn, Moscow 4:41PM GMT 13 Dec 2010
The unrest, which broke out less than two weeks after Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, left the Kremlin embarrassed and stoked fears that the tournament itself could be marred by similar violence.
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A massive race-tinged riot outside the Kremlin walls has exposed the problems Russia faces as it prepares to present a modern new face to the world at the 2018 World Cup. President Dmitry Medvedev took to his Twitter page to promise Russians that he would “deal” with the 5,000 ultranationalists and football hooligans who clashed with the police on Manezh Square
Anxious to quell those fears, Mr Medvedev said the rioters would get their just deserts.
“We will deal with everyone who defiled things. Everyone. You can be certain of that,” he said.
Warning that such clashes threatened the stability of the Russian state, he said any future unrest would be put down by the riot police using “all powers and methods”. Kremlin officials played down accusations that the Russian football world was riddled with racism ahead of FIFA’S decision earlier this month to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia.
But thousands of football fans fought pitched battles with riot police on Saturday just yards from Red Square, attacking passers-by with dark skin.
The supporters had gathered to demand revenge after a Spartak Moscow fan, Yegor Sviridov, was shot dead on 4 December in a fight with men from Russia’s troubled North Caucasus area.
People in that area have dark skin and are reviled by Russian nationalists who complain that they have migrated to Moscow and other cities bringing crime, violence and an alien culture in their wake.
Supporters vented their anger by throwing flares, trashing a giant Christmas tree, and attacking a group of dark-skinned passers-by after ripping up metal fence posts to use as weapons. The violence spread to the Moscow metro later when a group of fans tried to attack a dark-skinned migrant.
Many fans hid their faces with masks or scarves and chanted “Russia for the Russians!” and “Moscow is a Russian city!”
In a separate incident on Sunday, a group of youths attacked a Central Asian migrant in Moscow and stabbed him to death.
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