Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed an airport in Russia’s predominantly Muslim Dagestan region, where a plane from Israel had just arrived, forcing security forces to close the airport and remove the demonstrators. Twenty people were injured before the protest was contained at Makhachkala airport, local authorities said. The passengers on the plane were safe, security officials told Reuters.
The unrest followed several other anti-Israel incidents in North Caucasus sparked by Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza. The unrest in the region, where Russian security forces once fought an Islamist insurgency, could pose another challenge for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is waging a war in Ukraine and who has faced an attempted mutiny this year.
Videos from Makhachkala airport obtained by Reuters showed the protesters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags, breaking down glass doors and running through the airport shouting “Allahu Akbar” or “God is Greatest.”
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