Incident between Ingush and Chechen youths in NazranRuslan Isayev, Northern Caucasus – An incident between Ingush and Chechen youths, which took place on September 19 in Nazran, nearly resulted in a mass fight. More than a hundred Ingush youths equipped with metal rods, knuckle-dusters, knives and wooden sticks attacked Chechen refugees in one of their tent camps in the largest town of Ingushetia, following a recent scuffle in which several Ingush and Chechens were involved.
In another refugee camp, the Ingush youths threw stones at Chechens' cars, having broken the windows of several vehicles. For several hours, the Ingushetian youths were moving around Nazran and shouting anti-Chechen slogans, while the local police did not interfere.
One of the eyewitnesses, Rizvan, who lives in refugee camp LogoVaz, said the following: “There are around 1500 people living in our camp. Nearly all of us are more or less from Grozny and its surroundings. During our presence here, I have never ever witnessed anything like that, at least in our camp. Lately, however, anti-Chechen sentiments have grown stronger in Ingushetia. The young people who came to our camp told us to go home [to Chechnya]. If somebody of us Chechens has committed any crime, it’s the task for the police [and not for such a crowd].”
Rizvan explained the background to the situation. Earlier this week, there was a scuffle between several Chechens and Ingush in a local café. One of the Ingushetians had allegeldy been injured by a knife and died later on, or, according to other sources, somebody struck him with an empty bottle on his head and the victim is now lying in a hospital. Whatever the truth is, that incident lead to the riots, Rivzan explained.
(K,T) |
