Alexandre Bienvault with AFP / Photo credit: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP 9:25 p.m., October 29, 2023, changed at 6:49 a.m., October 30, 2023
Makhachkala airport in Dagestan was closed on Sunday after an intrusion by an anti-Israel crowd and police officers were stationed at the site, the Russian aviation authority said. Several dozen men rushed to the airport roof and onto the tarmac as the arrival of a flight from the Jewish state was announced.
The airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the Russian Republic of Dagestan, was closed on Sunday after an intrusion by an anti-Israel crowd and security forces were stationed at the site, the Russian aviation authority said. “After unknown persons entered the traffic zone of Makhachkala airport, it was decided to temporarily close the airport to arriving and departing flights,” Rossaviatsia said, adding that “law enforcement agencies were on site.” “The situation is under control.” Control,” the authorities assured on Sunday evening.
Several dozen men rushed in
According to Izvestia and RT media, several dozen men stormed onto the roof of the airport and onto the tarmac when the arrival of a flight from Israel was announced. Videos posted on Telegram show them breaking barriers, trying to control cars leaving the airport or breaking down doors inside the terminal. One of the videos shows a man positioned on one of the wings of a Russian Red Wings aircraft.
According to the specialist website Flightradar, a flight of this airline from Tel Aviv landed in Mukhkala at 7 p.m. local time (4 p.m. GMT). According to the independent Russian media Sota, it was a transit flight that was scheduled to take off again towards Moscow at 9 p.m. (7 p.m. GMT). It cannot currently be clarified whether the aircraft was still on the tarmac and what the situation of its passengers was.
“60 people arrested”
Several protesters had also checked the passports of people leaving the airport before entering the terminal, images posted on social media showed. One held a sign that read “Child murderers have no place in Dagestan” and others shouted “Allah Akbar” in the videos.
Earlier in the day, the information minister of the neighboring republic of Chechnya, Akhmed Dudayev, called on Telegram to remain calm and avoid “provocations” in view of the increasing tensions in the Russian Caucasus.
Attacks on Jews “will play into the hands of our enemies who are deliberately provoking the world in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he said in a video. “What is currently happening in Makhachkala is bad. Very, very bad,” commented the head of the pro-Kremlin channel RT, Margarita Simonian, on X (ex-Twitter). Chechnya and Dagestan are two unstable republics in Russia whose populations are predominantly Muslim.
The Russian Interior Ministry’s press service said in a statement that “more than 150 active participants have been identified, 60 of them have been arrested.” It is reported that nine police officers were injured and two are in hospital.