Anti-war rally taking place in Chechen-AulRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus - A protest rally has been taking place for three days in the village of Chechen-Aul, in the southern part of the Grozny district, situated near the strategic motorway “Kavkaz” and the Shatoi road, which is used for transport of supplies for Russian units stationed in the Shatoi and Itum-kale districts. Therefore, Chechen-Aul is of a great interest and importance to the Russian army. An extensive mopping-up operation took place in Chechen-Aul on October 30. The local inhabitants say that during the mop-up almost all soldiers wore masks and the identification plates on their armoured personnel carriers were covered with mud. During the searches and raids the soldiers arbitrarily detained 12 young people they accidentaly met and took away from the village. The relatives of the detained, joined by other villagers, organized a silent protest in front of the local army headquarters that turned to a massive rally against the Russian army. The soldiers attempted to scatter the villagers and the following tumult resulted in one woman being lightly injured due to shooting. Several cars that the locals had driven to the rally have been burned.
Chechnya’s prosecutor visited Chechen-Aul and promised to find out the place of detention of the twelve detained youths from the village. Head of the pro-Moscow Chechen administration, Akhmad Kadyrov, was informed about the events in Chechen-Aul as well. The protesters declared that they will continue with their rally until they achieve the release of their neighbours, whose only guilt is apparently the fact that they are young.
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