MOSCOW, October 15 (RIA Novosti) – Authorities in Moscow have detained at least three people suspected of involvement in anti-migrant riots that targeted a vegetable warehouse in the city’s south over the weekend, police said Tuesday.
Deputy city police chief Oleg Baranov said at a City Hall meeting that police are holding two Moscow residents and one person from the surrounding region.
He gave no information about what role the individuals may have had in the unrest, which injured dozens, including six police officers.
Hundreds of people were detained by police overnight Sunday and on Monday in response to the violence that erupted after protests over the fatal stabbing of a 25-year-old man on Saturday spiraled out of control.
The killer, who police identified Tuesday as being from the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, remains at large.
Police said Tuesday morning that around 70 people are facing minor administrative charges over the clashes in the neighborhood of Biryulyovo.
RIA Novosti’s Rapsi legal news agency cited a local court as saying 23 people have been ordered to pay fines ranging from 500 rubles ($15) to 3,000 rubles ($93).
Baranov blamed the violence on an unidentified group of young men, who he said were joined by discontented members of the public from the neighborhood.
“These were separate groups,” he said. “So far, we can’t say which district they came from.”