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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Fear of anti-Muslim backlash after Russia bombs |
| 2010-03-31 |
| Well that didn't take long... [Al Arabiya Latest] Nargiza, a 17-year old daughter of a half-Armenian janitor mother, was beaten up by enraged Muscovites as their anger over Monday's metro bombings linked to Caucasus militants boiled over into blind prejudice. "She was beaten up in the street, her hair torn, face injured, her clothes torn, "said Galina Kozhevnikova of Moscow-based Sova Centre, a rights centre that tracks hate crimes, citing an acquaintance who witnessed the incident. The girl — assumed to be Muslim because of her darkish skin — became an unfortunate victim of a spike in anti-Islamic sentiments stirred up by the twin bombings that claimed the lives of 39 people, Kozhevnikova told AFP. "They stood there, recorded on phones and yelled: go on, finish off a shahid," said the account posted by the witness, who was not named, on LiveJournal, one of Russia's top online communities. Many Russians refer to suicide bombers as "shahids," the word meaning "martyrs" throughout the Muslim world. The country's FSB security service has linked the attacks to residents of Russia's volatile North Caucasus, a largely Muslim region. Kozhevnikova said the girl has temporarily left the city and was out of reach. "Everyone is in shock," she said. In a similar incident, several men and women beat up two women wearing headscarves on the metro Monday afternoon, yanking them off their seats and throwing them out of the train, popular radio Ekho of Moscow reported, citing an unidentified witness. The witness said no-one had called police and other passengers just looked on. A spokesman for the Moscow metro police told AFP no such incident had been registered. In a country where anti-immigrant sentiments are already running high, such incidents are to be feared after the attacks, the deadliest since 2004 when similar metro blasts killed 41, say hate crime experts. Kozhevnikova, whose centre has recorded several separate incidents since Monday, estimated that there could have been at least 10 such attacks in Moscow as more went unrecorded. But they will remain isolated incidents unless authorities and media choose to whip up anti-immigrant hysteria, analysts say. "As I see it, the real danger is that such incidents could be used by politicians," said Leokadia Drobizheva, head of the Research Centre for Inter ethnic Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 The witness said no-one had called police and other passengers just looked on. A spokesman for the Moscow metro police told AFP no such incident had been registered. In a country where anti-immigrant sentiments are already running high, such incidents are to be feared after the attacks, the deadliest since 2004 when similar metro blasts killed 41, say hate crime experts. Kozhevnikova, whose centre has recorded several separate incidents since Monday, estimated that there could have been at least 10 such attacks in Moscow as more went unrecorded. But they will remain isolated incidents unless authorities and media choose to whip up anti-immigrant hysteria, analysts say. Oh the horror! There must be at least as many muslim dead as Russian dead by now. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-03-31 10:04 |
| #2 Very simple, if those "peaceful Muslims" fear the backlask then instead of acting as shield to the Jihadist sword, they only have to start bringing jihadist heads to the authorities. |
| Posted by: JFM 2010-03-31 04:38 |
| #1 Now that's too bad. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-03-31 03:45 |