DHAKA: Moscow police were holding almost 400 people under arrest after the Russian capital was rocked by some of its worst ethnically-fuelled rioting in years, sparked by the killing of an ethnic Russian allegedly by a Muslim migrant from the Caucasus.

An initially peaceful protest in the Biryulyovo district of Moscow to protest the killing of Yegor Shcherbakov, 25, rapidly descended into bloody clashes with the police that left the glass doors of a shopping centre smashed and cars upturned.

The crowd chanted ‘Russia for Russians!’ and other nationalist slogans during a protest that swelled to more than 1,000 people in the industrial district of southern Moscow.

Police said Sunday evening that 380 people had been arrested over the rioting and were being questioned as part of a criminal investigation into hooliganism, The Straits Times publishes this report on Monday.

BDST: 1243 HRS, OCT 14, 2013
RoR/BSK