Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Foreign students sequestered
A Moscow school tells them to stay in their dorms for Hitler's birthday.
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 20, 2007
MOSCOW - A leading Moscow university ordered its foreign students on Thursday to stay in their dormitories for the next three days due to fears of ethnic violence before and after Adolf Hitler's birthday. The move by Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy underscores the failure of Russian authorities to stem the xenophobia and racism that is feeding a marked rise in hate crimes. At least 22 people have been killed and more than 130 injured in apparent hate crimes in Russia this year, according to the Sova human rights center, which monitors xenophobia. Last year, 53 people were killed and 460 injured, Sova says. Hundreds of foreigners at the school were told to stock up on food and warned they would not be let out of the dormitories through Saturday. Neo-Nazis tend to become more violent around Hitler's April 20 birthday and in the past have appeared in groups, shouted slogans and staged attacks on foreigners. Students said the main reason for the measure was clearly the fear of violence. "In a normal, democratic country the authorities don't obey the interests of these groups, but on the contrary protect people from them," said Liah Ganeline, a second-year medical student from Israel. Only physicians in training were being allowed to go out, along with students who signed a statement taking responsibility for their own safety and received approval from university officials, she said. Others were given permission to miss classes. Ganeline said the dorm, which houses about 500 students from Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus, has been locked down every April 20 for the past several years. She said officials always call it a fire safety drill. Sergei Baranov, acting dean of the university's foreign students department, first said the school was conducting emergency drills through Saturday.
[Last modified April 20, 2007, 01:26:46]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
