08 July 2011, 21:00
Grozny: youth protests against extremism
On July 7 a large-scale rally of youth organizations, aimed against extremism and radical movements in religion, was held in the centre of the Chechen capital. About three thousand people marched along Putin Avenue, the central street of the city, chanting slogans "No terrorism!" and "No Wahhabism!"
Participants of the rally with banners, flags of Russia and Chechnya, and large posters, marched from Druzhby Narodov Square to "Heart of Chechnya", the main mosque of the republic. Participants of the rally have defiantly burned the large posters which depicted Dokku Umarov, the leader of the Northern Caucasian armed underground, and other field commander. Burning of banners with portraits of the militants' leaders were accompanied by chanting: "You have betrayed your own people!"
The rally was organized by the Chechen government Committee for Youth Affairs and the Centre for Spiritual and Moral Education and Development of the Chechen Republic. According to the Committee's representative, its main aim was directed against terrorism, religious extremism and radical tendencies in Islam.
Author: Muslim Ibragimov Source: CK correspondent
