Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed an airport in Russia’s predominantly Muslim Dagestan region, where a plane from Israel had just arrived. The incident forced the security forces to close the airport and remove the demonstrators. Videos from the Makhachkala airport showed some in the crowd waving Palestinian flags and others trying to overturn a police car. Anti-Semitic slogans can be heard being shouted and some in the crowd examined the passports of arriving passengers, apparently in an attempt to identify those who were Israeli.
🇷🇺🇮🇱 Muslims in Dagestan, Russia STORM the airport at which a flight from ISRAEL is currently arriving! pic.twitter.com/Ez7xwmJhNL
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) October 29, 2023
A Russian Pilot telling Passengers on a Plane at Makhachkala International Airport in Dagestan to not attempt to Open any of the Doors due to the Rioters on the Tarmac which are trying to enter the Aircraft. pic.twitter.com/lwTW0Zg3V6
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 29, 2023
According to the local health authorities, 20 people had been injured, out of which two were critical. Sixty people have been arrested, the interior ministry said Monday, reported AFP. “More than 150 active participants in the unrest have been identified, 60 of them have been arrested,” the ministry said in a statement. In a statement Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel “expects 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.” According to The Associated Press, Netanyahu’s office added that the Israeli ambassador to Russia was working with Russia to keep Israelis and Jews safe. The unrest followed several other anti-Israel incidents in North Caucasus sparked by the Israel-Hamas war. The Dagestani government said early on Monday, according to Reuters, that it was strengthening security measures across the republic, which is home to about 3 million people. With inputs from agencies