All flights to and from Dagestan Makhachkala Airport in Russia have been suspended following a massive protest that stormed the facility. The crowd’s purpose was clear; “Dagestan had no place for child killers.”
On Sunday, a group of protesters broke past the security unit, with some running onto the airport runway before they were escorted out by security forces. As a result of the incident, more than twenty people including nine police officers were injured.
Local news reports and social media footage showed frightened passengers rushing to re-enter the plane which belonged to Russian carrier Red Wings. The crowd broke down glass doors chanting anti-Jewish slogans as well as “Allahu Akbar” – God is greatest. On the landing field, some waved the Palestinian flags, as another set checked the passports of arriving Jewish passengers.
According to Russia’s Interior Ministry, more than 150 of the protesters had been identified, with 60 of them arrested.
The Governor of the region, which is home to approximately 3.1 million people and situated on the western edge of the Caspian Sea, Sergei Melikov, condemned the mob’s intrusion into the airport via the Telegram messaging app. He stated, ‘There is no honor in verbally assaulting strangers or rummaging through their pockets to find their passports!’ He also criticized the ‘assaults on women with children.”
On Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office urged “the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis.”
A Jewish center located in the republic of Kabardino-Balkaria was also set on fire over the weekend.
