Sandwiched by low wages, predatory gangsters, and general discrimination, Moscow’s migrant communities are reportedly on the verge of armed resistance. Quoting law enforcement officers, the Russian Rosbalt information portal reported Thursday that “thousands” of migrants working in markets and shopping centers on the outskirts of the city are ready to take up arms.
The main source of the migrants’ discontent are the levels of protection money now demanded by criminal bosses. The payments have supposedly skyrocketed following the deaths of former, more modest protection money collectors, and the arrival of new gangsters on the scene. The new collectors have raised the stakes — both in terms of prices and violent penalties for non compliance.
The motives for conflict are not dissimilar from the ones seen recently at the Khovansky cemetery, where a fight broke out between migrant workers from Central Asia and gangster overlords from the Northern Caucasus regions of Russia.
That fighting injured dozens and killed at least three (unofficial counts put the number as high as 20). The former director of the cemetery Yury Chabuyev has already been arrested by investigators for his suspected role in the clashes.
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