Azeris pelt Armenian students with bottles and stones during PFUR festival

PanARMENIAN.Net - Every year Peoples' Friendship University of Russia conducts a "South-West Planet" festival where various associations represent their national culture.



During the Armenian performance, some Azeri and Turkish young men from the audience started throwing bottles at the stage. The OMON officers pushed the troublemakers aside, however, the incident repeated when Armenian youth gathered at the stage to support their friends. As result, an Armenian girl was badly injured, since a bottle was thrown exactly at her face. This outrageous act provoked a clash, a source told PanARMENIAN.Net



The policemen tried to drive the students off the site, dividing Armenians and Azeri-Turkish groups. Nevertheless, bottles, stones and sticks were againt thrown at Armenians.



The injured girl is in hospital now.



Several people were arrested but released soon.



"For some reason, the police took away Armenian big flags but did not trouble Azeris. It looked like a planned action. There were some 400-500 policemen in addition to OMON officers. When the scuffle began, there were more Azeris than Armenians at the site. Provocative attempts were numerous but Armenians lost their temper towards the end. The incident was stopped within an hour," a witness told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.



According to Azeri side, the clash started when the Armenian ensemble performed an Armenian folk song that Azeris claim to be theirs. The Azeri students "reacted" by shouting out 'Azerbaijan' and waving flags.



A similar incident took place at last year's festival.