Nationalist Unrest in Biryulyovo

On October 13, 2013 mass riots erupted in the West Biryulyovo district of Moscow. A crowd of local residents, including a group of football fans and some members of a nationalist group, staged pogroms in the shopping center “Biryuza” as well as at a vegetable warehouse. The violence was finally stopped with a force of anti-riot police. The reason for the riot was the murder of Egor Scherbakov by a person from the Caucasus or Central Asia.

During the night on October 10 on Vostryakovsky Way a 25-year-old man by the name of Egor Scherbakov was killed. The offender, presumably a native of the Caucasus or Central Asia, attacked the local resident with a knife. Scherbakov died on the spot in front of his girlfriend. The following evening, the relatives and neighbors of Scherbakov gathered at the scene of the crime. Also in attendance was the Deputy Chief of the Department of Internal Affairs for the southern district, Alexander Polovinka, who promised to investigate the situation and find the culprit.

Police have since conducted searches, including in migrant housing, cafes, restaurants, and saunas. 87 people have been detained as a result of these searches on the grounds of illegal immigration (one of the detainees was on the Federal wanted list). However, the killer has not been found yet.

In the evening on October 12 in Biryulyovo, a spontaneous rally was held and attended by about 40 people. Local residents marched to the district police department and demanded that the police find the killer, tighten immigration laws, and close the nearby vegetable warehouse (which has previously been the cause of protests by locals). That night the area was patrolled by nationalists, and there were several clashes with the police. .

The evening of October 13, near the house where Scherbakov was killed, a second “People’s Assembly” was held and attended by a few hundred people. Most of the attendees were young people in sports clothing and faces hidden behind handkerchiefs. The association “Russians”, a right-wing radical group, called on the internet for “all who are concerned” to join with them immediately.

The congregation stated that the killer, most likely “worked nearby, as a salesman at a store on ‘Biryulyovo-Tovarnaya’” and “all problems come from the local vegetable warehouse”.

Among the protesters was spotted one of the leaders of “Russians”, Alexander Belov, who urged the crowd to organize an initiative group. After him, the head of the council of West Biryulyovo, Victor Legavin, addressed the crowd, during which was heard several shouts of “Go away!” Legavin called 15 people in the prefecture of the southern district to “deal with illegal immigration”.

After the meeting, about 600 people marched together in the direction of the local shopping center, “Biryuza”, shouting “Russians, forward!” and “We are Russians, we are home!” One of the protesters threw a homemade explosive onto the territory of the district council. After reaching the shopping center, the group lined up in the parking lot. Several people attacked a man of Caucasian appearance, who was carrying boxes of clothing, knocking him to the ground and kicking him. Fortunately, the man was able to wrench himself free and ran into a building to find safety. Then about 20 people attacked another store employee, pinning him to the door and beating him. The victim managed to fight off the attackers. In addition, the participants of the the gathering attacked another native of the Central Asia, who tried to escape from them and climb through a heating pipe. At least one blow was known to have come from the coordinator of the group ”Russians”, Alexander Amelin.

The mob began to try and break through inside the shopping center, kicking and pushing in the door. Guards tried to strengthen the iron beams, but in the end the crowd broke down the door and got in. Protesters threw a smoke bomb through the window, ran through the store, smashed shop windows, turned over counters and mannequins, all while shouting xenophobic slogans.

Most of the salesmen managed to leave the building through the back door. Part of the mob rushed to pursue them, but luckily they were without success. The pursuers came back and threw more smoke bombs through the doors of the building. At the entrance to “Biryuza” more than a thousand local residents had gathered, including young children. One school-aged child was heard calling to a friend, using derogatory racial slang, to beat the salesmen faster.

Part of right-wing rioters entered a passenger bus and ordered the driver to drive across the road to block it off. Others threw over a “Gazelle” cargo truck. Traffic on the street was blocked. Neo-Nazis walked through the stopped traffic and searched cars and buses for people of “non-Slavic appearance”. One of the participants pointed a knife at a passenger sitting in a bus who was of Caucasian appearance.

Five buses of anti-riot police (OMON) came to the shopping center, but they initially took no action, not even exiting the buses. Finally the OMON units blocked the entrance to the store, broke into the crowd, and took some rioters, leading them to the bus. The police then went to the square in front of “Biryuza” and forced the audience to leave, directing them to Bulatnikovskaya Street.

The bus with the detained rioters tried to drive through the crowd, which was shouting “You are against Russians!” and more racial slurs. Police tried to drive the crowd away using clubs, but in response the rioters threw bottles and sticks at them. People also tried to build barricades out of garbage cans and cars to stop the bus, but in the end the bus managed to leave the area.

Then, about 800 people moved in the direction of the vegetable warehouse, which locals believe is the main headquarters of local migrant workers.

The police tried to stop the march several times. On the way, marchers snapped off side-view mirrors from parked cars, overturned some, and chanted, “We are Russians, we are home!” The OMON units stood in a blockade, but rioters turned down Podolsk Street. About 100 people reached the entrance to the warehouse; the rest stayed to push away the police. Along the way the gates to a tire workshop had also been broken.

The mob smashed in the gate to the warehouse, broke into the territory and began a pogrom. The police lined the halls near the exit, and began making mass arrests.

After the warehouse a part of the mob returned to the shopping center, near which several more clashes with the police occurred.

The situation in the area stabilized at around 1:30 that night.

According to the Interior Ministry, about 380 people were detained in Biryulyovo. Some members of nationalist groups, including “The Other Russia”, were detained on their way to Biryulyovo. Later, Edward Limonov denied the information that 14 members or supporters of his organization were in detention. “We verified with our activists of “The Other Russia”, and found that there is no information on the website of the Interior Ministry about these arrests,” he said.

The case falls under part 2 article 213 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism, committed in a group). On October 14, 2013, two participants in the riots were detained for criminal actions for 48 hours, 70 were made up of administrative materials, and they were obliged to appear in court.

According to media reports, on October 13, 20 people sought medical treatment, including six riot policemen, and several people were hospitalized.

In addition, Interfax reports that on Podolskikh Kursantov Street a group of aggressive young football fans attacked several people from the Caucasus near the Lukoil gas station. As a result, five people were hospitalized, and one was assisted at the site of the violence, as he refused to be taken to the hospital.

On October 14 2013, a preventative raid was held at the vegetable warehouse resulted in 1200 people being detained. Police discovered, inside the cabin of one of the cars, several million rubles, three traumatic pistols, two knives, and a baseball bat.

On the same day the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare closed the vegetable warehouse.