Russia holds hundreds of Muslims at market raids

Russian police detained nearly 300 Muslims from several countries in Saint Petersburg in an investigation into involvement in “terrorist activities”, authorities in St Petersburg said on Saturday.

They said in a statement that “271 people including citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, nationals of Russia’s North Caucasus and an Egyptian and an Afghani were detained to verify their suspected involvement in terrorist activity”.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) and police carried out the operation on Friday in the Apraskine Dvor central market where Muslims are known to work and pray.

The authorities did not say whether they had released the people, but immigration officials said Saturday that 10 of them would be deported, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

They added that all 271 were detained as part of an investigation into “calls for terrorist acts” and “incitement to hatred”, without elaborating.

FSB spokesman Dmitri Kochetkov said they recovered “extremist” literature at the market.

Many market traders in Russian cities are from the North Caucasus or central Asia.

Local media said police had initially detained 700 people.

Source: World Bulletin