Mob storms Russian airport looking for Israelis
MOSCOW: Russian police on Monday said they had arrested 60 people suspected of storming an airport in the Muslim-majority Caucasus republic of Dagestan, seeking to attack Jewish passengers coming from Israel.
Dozens of protesters, many of them chanting “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest), broke through doors and barriers at Makhachkala airport on Sunday, with some charging onto the runway.
Nine police officers were injured while trying to restore order and two of them were admitted to hospital, the interior ministry said.
The violence prompted Israel to call on Russia to protect its citizens, while the United States condemned the “anti-Semitic protests”.
Flight tracking website Flightradar24 indicated that a Red Wings flight out of Tel Aviv had landed at Makhachkala at 7:00pm local time on Sunday.
The independent Russian media outlet Sota said it was a transiting flight that had been due to take off again for Moscow two hours later.
The governor of Dagestan, Sergei Melikov, promised that those responsible would be punished, and the republic’s interior ministry said later that 60 people had been arrested.
Russia’s aviation agency initially said the airport would remain closed until November 6 but then announced it would reopen on Tuesday.
Several local Telegram channels showed photos and videos of dozens of men waiting outside the airport to stop cars.
One protester appeared in the videos holding a sign that read “Child killers have no place in Dagestan”.
Other videos showed a crowd inside an airport terminal trying to break down doors as staff members tried to deter them.
Russia blames ‘external interference’
Russia on Monday blamed “external interference” for an anti-Israel riot that closed an airport in the Muslim-majority region of Dagestan the previous day.
“Yesterday’s events at Makhachkala airport are, to a large extent, the result of external interference,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“Against the backdrop of TV footage showing the horrors of what is happening in the Gaza Strip — the deaths of people, children, old people, it is very easy for enemies to take advantage of and provoke the situation,” Peskov told reporters on Monday.
The Kremlin did not provide further details on its claim of “external interference”.