Grozny hosts rally against terrorism

On Saturday, December 13, a rally against terrorism was held in the Chechen capital. The police said that 50,000 took part in the event.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at night on December 4 militants organized an attack on law enforcers in Grozny. As a result of armed clashes, 14 power agents, 10 militants and at least one civilian were killed and lost.

"Thousands of citizens, youth activists, students and pupils, governmental officials and clergymen gathered in central Grozny. People would never see the events like on December 4 in Grozny," said a source from the city administration.

In his turn, the head of a local NGO called the rally "a pro-governmental action."

"This is totally pro-governmental rally aimed to demonstrate that the Chechen people are allegedly supporting the republic's leadership in their persecution of militants' relatives and burning down their houses. In reality these measures are extremely unpopular in the republic, but the authorities, as usual, drove thousands of state employees, 'public activists' under their control and so on to the central city," he said.

The organizers of the rally were public organizations in Chechnya, said a source from the Chechen parliament.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.