sábado, 11 de dezembro de 2010

Police detain over 120 football fans in Moscow, St. Petersburg clashes

Police detained 65 football fans in Moscow and 60 in St. Petersburg on Saturday during protests against the death of a Moscow Spartak supporter, Yegor Sviridov.
Some 5,000 young people, mainly football fans and members of nationalist organizations, protesting the death gathered on central Moscow's Manezh Square. About 2,000 protestors gathered in St. Petersburg. They ignored police demands to disperse and clashes broke out.
Nineteen people were hospitalized with injuries after the clashes in Moscow.
A police source told RIA Novosti earlier that the clashes were provoked by nationalists.
Sviridov, 28, was killed earlier this week during a mass brawl between football fans and internal migrants from the North Caucasus in north Moscow.
Police have already detained a man suspected of shooting him four times with a gun firing rubber bullets and two other migrants suspected of participating in the brawl.
The crowd in Moscow dispersed only after negotiations with the capital's police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev who promised to complete the investigation of Sviridov's death.
Extra security measures were taken in all Moscow districts following the clashes. RIA Novosti