Suspected ‘Wedding Shooters’ Detained in Moscow

MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) – Police have detained at least nine people traveling in a wedding caravan of five cars for allegedly firing celebratory shots in southern Moscow on Sunday, a police spokesman has said.

“A wedding cortege of Azerbaijan’s nationals has been detained at the entrance to the Tsaritsyno park,” the spokesman said adding that the passengers and the drivers have been taken to a police department to “give explanations over the shooting.”

Police have halted a caravan of Toyota, Mazda, Infinity, BMW Х5 and Mercedes, the spokesman said. An investigation is ongoing. Police officers are searching the cars, he added.

In September, a wedding motorcade caused shock and alarm among the capital’s residents when guests started shooting into the air and blocked a road in the city center. At least 15 people were detained over that incident. They were fined and released.

The shooting, which is part of an old popular custom at Islamic weddings, has prompted a public outcry in Russia amid growing tensions between ethnic Russians and natives of the North Caucasus republics.

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