Right-wing Ultranationalist skinheads give the Nazi salute outside Moscow, in this June 16, 2004, file photo. Russia has seen a marked rise in racism and xenophobia over the past several years, and with Ultranationalist groups celebrating Adolph Hitler's birthday on upcoming Saturday April 21, 2007, a leading Moscow university has advised foreign students to remain in their dormitories because of fears of ethnic violence. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)
"A leading Moscow university ordered its foreign students on Thursday to remain in their dormitories for the next three days because of fears of ethnic violence before Adolf Hitler's birthday, students said.
Hundreds of students at the prestigious Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy were told to stock up on food and warned they would not be let out of the dormitories through Saturday in an attempt to protect them amid a marked rise in hate crimes.
Ethnically motivated violence tends to increase in the days leading up to and after Hitler's birthday on April 20, when some members of ultra-nationalist organizations shout slogans and stage attacks on dark-skinned foreign and other non-Slavic-looking people.
Hundreds of students at the prestigious Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy were told to stock up on food and warned they would not be let out of the dormitories through Saturday in an attempt to protect them amid a marked rise in hate crimes.
Ethnically motivated violence tends to increase in the days leading up to and after Hitler's birthday on April 20, when some members of ultra-nationalist organizations shout slogans and stage attacks on dark-skinned foreign and other non-Slavic-looking people.
The measure at Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy did not appear to be exclusive. Other universities and organizations have in the past also warned foreigners of possible violence ahead of Hitler's birthday. In Moscow, authorities have closed down some outdoor markets over the last couple of years where many traders are foreigners.
Liah Ganeline, a second-year student at Sechenov from Israel, said authorities have locked down her dormitory in southern Moscow — which houses about 500 students from Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus region — every April 20 for the past several years. She said officials call it a fire safety drill.
She said another dormitory housing several hundred students in central Moscow was subject to similar restrictions.
She said another dormitory housing several hundred students in central Moscow was subject to similar restrictions.
Ganeline said, however, that all students were aware of the real reason, and noted that someone had scrawled the word "skinheads" over an announcement of the lockdown posted on a dormitory wall. Last year, she said, a group of skinheads threw firebombs at the dormitory building after shouting offensive slogans and giving the Nazi salute.
"It is nice that the university is taking care of us, but on the other hand it's absurd that our freedom is being limited because of some militant groups," said Liah Ganeline, a second-year medical student from Israel.
"In a normal, democratic country the authorities don't obey the interests of these groups, but on the contrary protect people from them," she told The Associated Press by telephone." ( the full story ...)
No comments:
Post a Comment