Organizers of anime festival in Makhachkala refuse to complain to police

Participants and organizers of the anime festival disrupted in Makhachkala did not complain to the police about aggressive actions, and the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) did not find any direct threats voiced on the Internet against activists of the anime festival. A post of the former Dagestani Minister of Youth Affairs provoked a new round of discussion on Facebook about the disruption of the anime festival.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that according to journalist Svetlana Anokhina, the organizers of the anime festival were bombarded with threats. According to activist Marat Ismailov, at least one participant in the anime festival was injured.

The conflict around the anime festival was caused by images from a recent rehearsal posted on the Internet. They provoked a negative reaction from conservative-minded young people, and the management of the theatre accused the organizers of the anime festival of deception and cancelled the event in fear of pogroms.

Rights defender Svetlana Anokhina drew attention to a commentary under the material of the "Caucasian Knot" stating that theatre security guards allegedly "encountered orgies in a toilet."

"Do you mean children of 10-17 years old staged orgies? In pokemon suits? Is it true? Are you sure about that?" Svetlana Anokhina wrote on Facebook.

Meanwhile, Arsen Gadjiev, the former Dagestani Minister of Youth Affairs, supported opponents of the anime festival.

"Today, we have an anime festival, and tomorrow, we may have an LGBT event ... It is unacceptable for us," Arsen Gadjiev wrote on Facebook.

"It is very sad to see such tendencies. We are not a religious state, but a secular country, where all opinions that do not violate other people's rights can exist," Ruslan Djambulatov wrote under the Arsen Gadjiev's post.