Tag Archives: Uzbek

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Russia News | Ethnic Minorities

Ethnic tensions erupt into fatal brawl at Moscow’s biggest cemetery
  • Three were killed and nearly two dozen hospitalized among the 200 embroiled in clashes over service areas at the Khovanskoye cemetery in southwest Moscow.
  • Officials reported the fighting was primarily between Chechens and Dagestanis from the Russian Caucasus on one side and Central Asian migrants on the other, primarily ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks.
  • Tensions have simmered in the country between migrant and other low-paid workers as Russia’s economic woes have led to a constricted job market.

Read more:
“Three killed as ethnic rivalries fuel brawl at Moscow cemetery” (Reuters)
“Police makes over 100 arrests after Khovanskoye Cemetery brawl” (Interfax via Russia Beyond the Headlines)
“Mass melee in Moscow cemetery leaves 3 dead, 23 wounded” (AP via CBC News)

(Image Credit: AP via CBC News)

Race + Color + Ethnicity
In the hangover following Kyrgyzstan’s interethnic violence of 2010, the Uzbek minority still smarts from persecution.
  • While prominent Uzbek activists remain imprisoned from the period, few ethnic Kyrgyz have been prosecuted for their role in the violence that left more than 400 dead and 80,000 displaced.
  • The government has been largely silent on ethnic segregation and discrimination, believing silence to be the road to reconciliation.
  • Concern persists that political leaders will use nationalistic, anti-Uzbek sentiment to drum up support ahead of elections.

“The problem is not just residential segmentation, it is also cultural: apart from the bazaar, there are few inter-communal links between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.”

More on this story at EurasiaNet.

(Image Credit: David Trilling, via EurasiaNet)