Dozens of men stormed the tarmac and terminal of the airport in Makhachkala, capital of the majority-Muslim Russian republic of Dagestan, on Sunday for several hours, apparently looking for passengers from a flight in from Israel. After the intervention of the police, the Russian aviation agency announced on Sunday evening that the airfield had been “emptied of citizens who had infiltrated without authorization”.
Sixty people suspected of having participated in the assault were arrested and nine police officers were injured during these clashes, Russian authorities said on Monday. “More than 150 active participants in the unrest have been identified,” the press service of the Russian Interior Ministry also announced in a statement, specifying that two injured police officers had been hospitalized.
Burst onto the tarmac
According to the specialized site Flightradar, a flight from Tel Aviv of the Russian company Red Wings landed at 7 p.m. local in Makhachkala. According to the independent Russian media Sotait is a transit flight which was to take off again towards Moscow at 9 p.m.
According to Sota, men first gathered in front of the airport to check the passports of people leaving, looking for Israeli citizens. According to the Russian newspaper Izvestia and the pro-Kremlin channel RT, they then burst onto the roof of the airport and onto the tarmac.
A video shows men holding a sign: “Child killers have no place in Dagestan” and others shouting “Allah Akbar”. Some people in the crowd waved Palestinian flags.
“Scandalous”
These incidents were denounced by the Dagestan authorities. All residents of Dagestan “understand the suffering of those who are victims of the actions of (…) unjust people and pray for peace in Palestine,” declared the leader of the Russian Caucasian republic, Sergei Melikov. But what happened at our airport is scandalous,” he continued, promising prosecution.
The airport was closed until November 6, according to the Russian aviation agency.