Russian nationalists march in Moscow
Several thousand Russian nationalists rallied Monday in Moscow, venting against the migrants they accuse of pushing up the crime rate and taking their jobs.
The protest took place on the national holiday of Unity Day, established in 2005 to replace commemorations of the Bolshevik Revolution.
Nationalist rallies were held in other Russian cities as well, including St. Petersburg, Kazan and Irkutsk.
Animosity is strong among nationalists against migrants from the former Soviet Central Asian republics and against non-Slavs from the largely Muslim Russian Caucasus region. Central Asian migrants are widely employed in big cities in construction and do other low-paid jobs that Russians are not eager to do.
While some of the onlookers were displeased, other locals said they were supporting the march because of an uncontrolled influx of migrants they have seen in their neighborhoods.
Monday's rally came three weeks after rioters targeted a vegetable warehouse where they believed the alleged migrant killer of an ethnic Russian man was working. Police later rounded up more than 1,000 migrants working at the warehouse.
About 30 people were detained at the rally for using Nazi slogans and symbols as well as for other misdemeanors, Moscow police said.
A U.N. report in September said Russia has about 11 million migrants. Russia is visa-free for all Central Asian republics, so most of the migrant workers are in Russia legally.
