A large crowd of pro-Palestine protesters on Sunday stormed a Russian airport while chanting anti-Israel remarks, prompting officials to divert several flights.
The group of protesters were reportedly looking for passengers who came from a flight that departed from Tel Aviv. The airport is located in the city of Makhachkala in the Republic of Dagestan and was forced to close after rioters started to flood the runway.
Pro-Palestine Protesters Storm Russian Airport
Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsia also reported that all aircraft traveling towards Makhachkala were diverted to other airports. Amichai Stein, a reporter for the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation said that a small number of Jews and Israelis were "isolated" at the airport during the protests.
The protesters who stormed the Russian airport were also heard yelling "Allahu Akbar" and anti-Semitic slogans. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem added that an Israeli ambassador in Russia was already working with authorities to protect the Israeli citizens in the region, as per Fox News.
A statement added that Israel expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to safeguard all Israeli citizens and Jews as well as take robust action against the rioters and against the unbridled incitement being directed at Jews and Israelis.
The incident comes as the Majority of residents in Dagestan are Muslim and Jews are considered a minority group in Russia. Rebekah Koffler, a foreign affairs expert, said that the situation could be a big issue for Russian President Vladimir Putin if the protests are not contained.
He added that many local Muslims are being radicalized as a result of the suppression of religion during the Soviet Times. Koffler noted that Putin brutally fought two wars in Chechnya having obliterated the extremist version of Islam in order to exterminate it once and for all.
Dagestan's health ministry reported that the protests at the Russian airport resulted in the injury of many people who were being given medical assistance. Local news reports said that the airliner that the protests stormed belonged to Russian carrier Red Wings, according to Aljazeera.
Anti-Israel Demonstrations
Videos from social media showed that some people in the crowd on the landing field were waving Palestinian flags and others were checking the passports of passengers who had just landed.
Another journalist from Aljazeera, Yulia Shapovalova, was in Moscow and said that they received reports that protesters even tried to overturn a police car at the Russian airport. She noted that police allegedly fired into the air in an attempt to disperse the large crowd of demonstrators.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs for Russia's North Caucasian Federal District said that CCTV footage of the incident would be used to establish the identities of the protesters who stormed the airport. It added that it would work on having the people involved in the protest to be brought to justice.
One flight that was initially bound for Makhachkala International Airport was diverted to a nearby airport which was also stormed by rioters. The protesters could be seen hopping fences to go onto the tarmac in an attempt to reach the aircraft, said the New York Post.
