Mass brawl prevented in Barnaul

At the end of March 2007 in Barnaul, members of the Department for Combating Organized Crime and the Criminal Investigation Department, with the support of the special forces of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate of the Altai Territory, prevented an attempt by a group of young people suspected of "nationalist sentiments" to provoke a mass brawl in the city center.

More than 40 people armed with baseball bats, rubber masks, stun guns met near the market "Pervomaisky" in order to "sort out" the conflict that had recently occurred between one of the initiators of the "gathering" with a private carrier. The instigators and organizers were detained and taken to the police. Among the detainees - mostly athletes involved in various types of hand-to-hand combat. Some of them have already been convicted.

Vyacheslav Novikov, First Deputy Head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate, Head of the Criminal Police, said that "it is not yet possible to go into details, but thanks to the fact that we received operational information, a group of people, and this is more than forty people, in which leaders spontaneously arose, warming up an aggressive mood, was divided by employees of the internal affairs bodies. It did not come to a direct conflict. According to preliminary information, the organizers of possible riots, among other things, cultivated nationalist sentiments " .

Currently, this fact is being checked in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.

Sources

• Police officers prevented a mass brawl in the center of Barnaul // Altapress. 2007. March 27.
• Altai police officers prevented riots in Barnaul // AMITEL. 2007. March 28.
• Barnaul police are checking the activities of a youth group suspected of "nationalist sentiments" // Bankfax. 2007. March 28.