“They understand the politics of suppression -- direct suppression. And they don't understand that this will create problems for themselves much worse than those they are trying to solve now.”
Sergei Sobyanin is the mayor of Moscow. He was re-elected last month. He says the city will not approve any new mosques. He says the Muslims praying in streets on holidays are not Russian citizens. He says they are mainly Central Asians, guest workers who will return to their own countries.
Voters seem to agree with Mr. Sobyanin. Some Russians have expressed anger against Central Asians and Caucasians who live in Russia. Earlier this month one Slavic neighborhood rioted against those immigrants, many of whom are Muslim.
“Russia forward! Russia forward!”
The riots started because a Slavic Russian man was stabbed to death. An immigrant from Azerbaijan is accused of killing him.
In addition to the riots, police detained about 2,000 migrant workers. Some politicians called for a law banning apartment sales to foreigners. They also want to restrict visas on migrants from Muslim nations along Russia’s southern border. Not long ago, those nations were part of the Soviet Union.
Isolda Kukushkina moved to Moscow from Ukraine in the early 1980s. She was near the Cathedral Mosque on Tuesday, looking at all the Muslim men praying in the street.
She says she is worried that Moscow will turn Muslim. The city, she says, must keep its Slavic identity.
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25