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Deadly Brawl Outside Moscow Could Spark Race Riot


(September 18, 2008)

Police are on alert after a mass inter-ethnic brawl led to two deaths in the village of Lunevo, Russia (Moscow region), according to a September 16, 2008 report by the Regions.ru news web site. On September 15, two Uzbek construction workers got into a verbal altercation with a female employee at a late night store, prompting some Russian customers to stand up for her. The conflict escalate to a brawl involving over 40 people. At least ten were injured and two on the Russian side were killed. Police detained around 20 people, and have so far charged one Uzbek man with murder.

In the wake of the 2006 Kondopoga race riot, which began as a bar fight and escalated into a mass expulsion of non-Russians from the town, local police beefed up their presence in and around the village. A television news report on Russia's 5th channel showed witnesses saying that when the Uzbeks killed the two Russians, they were unarmed and outnumbered. Rumors are circulating that a Tajik man was later killed in retaliation, but the Channel 5 television crew was unable to find any Uzbeks or Tajiks to interview, since they have apparently left town in anticipation of further violence. A September 17 article posted on the web site of the national daily "Komsomolskaya Pravda" added that some local residents are calling for an expulsion of all migrants from the town; the article's subtitle reads: "Local Residents Intend Fierce Revenge Against the Asians and Will Resort to Lynch Law in Lunevo."


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