6,000 ultra nationalists march in Moscow

PanARMENIAN.Net - Thousands of nationalists marched through the Russian capital Sunday, Nov 4 chanting slogans including "Moscow is a Russian city" to express their resentment of dark-complexioned migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia, The Associated Press reported.

The march took place on Unity Day, a national holiday established in 2005 to replace commemorations of Bolshevik Revolution.

Nationalists accuse the Kremlin of lavishing privileges on migrants and minorities while ignoring ethnic Russians, and object to government subsidies to the restive, mostly Muslim Caucasus republics.

There were no immediate reports of violence at the march, which police estimated attracted about 6,000 people. But the ITAR-Tass news agency cited police as saying about 25 demonstrators wearing Nazi swastikas were arrested as they shouted slogans at a subway station in the city center.

Survey's have indicated that nearly half of Russians resent Caucasian and Central Asian immigrants and migrants, and such sentiments often overlap with the opposition movement that rose up dramatically last December in the wake of parliamentary elections tainted by allegations of widespread fraud.