13 July 2004, 15:58
Protest meeting dispersed in Sunzha district
Law enforcement agencies detained the brothers Inalov and Kazbek Vitaev, high school students, in Assinovskaia, Sunzha district, Chechnya, on July 10. There is no knowing where they are kept or what is their further destiny. Yesterday, on July 12, residents of the neighboring villages of Assinovskaia, Sernovodsk, Achkhoi-Martan, Samashki and Shaami-Yurt conducted a protest action at a Russian checkpoint, blocking the Rostov-Baku federal highway and roads connecting the republic's district centers. The meeting involved over one thousand people.
The demonstrators were throwing stones at the Russian checkpoint, according to some information. Officers of various law enforcement and security agencies, including the Federal Security Service, made an attempt to disperse the meeting, but all was in vain. They sent for backup, which resulted in security service and riot police officers coming to the scene and dispersing the meeting. Armored personnel carriers fired above the people's heads and under their feet, while the law enforcers beat them using batons and submachine gun butts.
Those tragic events led to people wounded. About ten women were delivered to hospital, having sustained various wounds and injuries. The law enforcers detained several demonstrators, according to eyewitnesses.
Source: Caucasian Knot
