Russian police arrest 60 people over Dagestan airport riot

Russian police have arrested 60 people after an antisemitic mob stormed an airport in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan on Sunday, in an incident the Kremlin blamed on “external interference” by the west.

Law enforcement authorities in Dagestan, a mostly Muslim area in the North Caucasus Mountains, said on Monday they had identified 150 of the rioters who broke into the airport in search of passengers arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv.

The riot, in which angry crowds waving Palestinian flags encircled the plane, with some climbing on to its wings and roof, followed rumours that refugees from the Israeli-Hamas conflict were being relocated to the region.

Russia’s interior ministry said 20 people were injured in the riots, including police officers and civilians. Two are in critical condition.