Kemerovo police investigate conflict with Chechens treated as interethnic by bloggers

In the city of Kemerovo, law enforcers are investigating the incident in the cafe "Schepka", which occurred at night on October 6, when a group of youngsters rushed into the premise and began beating the visitors. The records from the cafe's surveillance cameras were posted on the Internet; and users could see a young man with the word "Chechnya" on his T-shirt. Local bloggers treat the incident as an interethnic conflict.

Five persons suffered at pogrom in the cafe; two were wounded from traumatic pistols

Fifteen persons were involved in the fight; five visitors suffered: two of them were wounded from traumatic pistols. The police opened a criminal case under the article of "hooliganism committed with use of firearms", which assumes up to five years in prison.

The Chief Department for the Kemerovo Region of the Russia's MIA asserts that the conflict burst out because of a girl and has no interethnic background, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

It is seen from the video that appeared on the Internet how a bearded attacker threatens the visitors with a pistol. At that moment, a few others burst into the room and began beating the people at the tables one after another. The man with a pistol shot in the air. One of the attackers in a T-shirt with inscription "Chechnya" lifted a chair and broke it against a table; and at the entrance of the cafe he severely punched a young man standing there embracing a girl. When the young man tried to respond, he was attacked by several guys.

When leaving, the thugs beat up another visitor, and when he fell down they made several shots at him point-blank from a traumatic pistol; then, by a strong blow on the head they knocked down a man with a glass in his hand.

"The funniest thing is that they shouted 'Beat non-Russians!' and something else in the Chechen language. They beat the administrator, a young girl and some non-Russian man," an eyewitness of the attack told the "Gazeta.Ru".

As explained by a worker of the cafe, two young men provoked a conflict long before the pogrom. They were invited out and asked to stop the conflict, but at the exit from the premise they hit a visitor, who was defended by his friends. The young men waited until their "offenders" left, returned to the place with their accomplices and began smashing the cafe and beating the visitors, the "Gazeta Kemerovo" wrote.

According to the administrator, the police received about five applications; however, most of the victims are afraid to seek help from law enforcement bodies, the "Russian News Service" reports.

All the victims have been questioned; the police have identified the instigators of the mass brawl; one of them is detained, says the statement posted on the website of the above Chief Department of the Russia's MIA. It also quoted Evgeny Ilyasov, the head of the information and PR division, who said, referring to victims and eyewitnesses, that there was no interethnic conflict in the cafe.

Internet users discuss conflict in Kemerovo

A report about the incident was posted by Alexei Navalny in his blog on the Livejournal under the title "Chechens smash 'Schepka' and beat visitors" with a question "For how long should this last?"

The blogger speaks about the impunity of young people from Chechnya and associates their behaviour in the cafe with the position of the authorities of the republic and the country who support them.

The readers of his block express different opinions on the incident in their comments.

"We in Pyatigorsk have long been accustomed to such antics of highlanders," wrote the user kafir1.

The user ac1dgreen notes, however, that "there's a feeling that only Chechens are guilty of all this lawlessness." According to his version, there is nothing in the video that he had "not seen in performance of Russians." "Double standards are such," he writes.

"That's not it. As soon as the police learn that Chechens were involved, they immediately wash away their hands. It's different with Russians, unless the guy is a son of some businessman, etc.," wrote the noku4.

The user alex_larionov, who calls himself a native of Kemerovo, states that "there are no Chechen, Dagestani and Azerbaijani Diasporas and groupings in Kemerovo" and asks Navalny first to analyze what is there on the video.

The author of the blog on the Livejournal under the nickname wild_che, a resident of Grozny, tries to find the reasons for the smashing the cafe in Kemerovo. He criticizes Navalny for the words that "Chechen gangs are so brazen and fearless just because they are Chechen ones." He points out that nobody had even been punished for many events in Chechnya, including clean-ups in Chechen villages during the Chechen Wars, when dozens of civilians were assassinated.