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The Moscow Times, November 2, 2004

500 Protesters Denounce Racism in St. Petersburg

By Vladimir Kovalyev
ST. PETERSBURG -- More than 500 protesters chanted, "Shame, shame!" at a weekend rally to decry what they called city authorities' indifference toward racism, and Russia's human rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, warned that quick action was needed to deal with racial intolerance.

City and police officials invited to address protesters' concerns at the rally failed to show up, but sent a policeman with a digital camera to film the protesters.

"We don't pay enough attention to the education of our people," Lukin told the rally Sunday on Sakharov Square. "The authorities don't pay enough attention to this issue. But it looks like a small avalanche is being formed that could snowball and destroy the government itself if it doesn't deal with the problem."

Fam Kuang Tung, a Vietnamese student and a rally organizer, urged authorities to open up their investigation into the stabbing death of a Vietnamese student on Oct. 13.

"We haven't been given any details about the investigation yet, and we think that the only way to achieve anything is by acting strong and united," he said.

Vu An Tuan, 20, was attacked by a group of young men as he walked to the metro at night. No suspects have been charged.

St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko said Friday that she believes the attack was linked to hooliganism, not racism, but promised that the culprits would be brought to justice, Interfax reported.

Police often consider attacks against dark-skinned people to be hooliganism.

Police said Friday that the investigation into the student's death is continuing and that they have narrowed down their list of suspects.

"Because the crime was committed late at night, it is quite difficult to draw sketches of the suspects even though there were witnesses," a police official told Interfax. "In two weeks we have succeeded in creating a sketch of one suspect, a young person aged 15 to 18, of average height and with no striking features."

Sunday's protest was organized by foreign students together with human rights advocates and liberal political parties Yabloko and the Union of Right-Wing Forces.

Police insisted that demonstrators march to the square on a sidewalk along Unversitetskaya Naberezhnaya so as not to disrupt the thin traffic on the street, protesters said. A police officer carrying a digital camera filmed them the whole time. "It feels very unpleasant," one protester, a British citizen who only identified himself as Peter, said as he pointed to the officer.

 

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The Moscow Times, November 2, 2004

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