KIROV, Russia. July 16 (Interfax) - Russia's Investigative Committee has launched "mass riots" proceedings in connection with an ethnically motivated assault in a village in northern Russia last month.
"According to investigators, on June 21-22 in the village of Demyanovo of the Podosinovsky district of the Kirov region, unidentified persons initiated a gathering of more than 120 village residents aged 20 or more with the aim of organizing mass riots and using violence against natives of the North Caucasus. Providing those present with metal rods, wooden sticks and boards to be used as weapons and supplying them with alcoholic beverages, the suspects organized a march of the rioters to a sawmill situated near the village of Fursovo of the Podosinovsky district, where they used violence against natives of the Republic of Dagestan," the Committee said in a statement.
"Countermeasures used by the police cut short the rioters' illegal behavior and prevented more serious consequences," it said.
Earlier, two individuals were detained on suspicion of "hooliganism" and a man was identified who was suspected of violence against a policeman.