Dozens Deatined in Moscow After Orchestrated Attack on Left-Wing Youths - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM

A group of unknown assailants, 30 to 40-strong, dressed in camouflage uniforms, attacked activists of radical left-wing political movements holding a conference on the premises of the Communist Party headquarters in south-eastern Moscow. A police source told the Gazeta.Ru news website that the attackers had fired shots in the air and then began beating their victims with rubber batons. Three people suffered injuries. The attackers fled the scene by bus. Shortly afterwards, the vehicle was detained by police and all its passengers taken into custody. (...) Some news agencies speculated the men responsible for the attack belong to a radical skinhead movement advocating racial and political intolerance, but those reports have so far seen no confirmation. Anastasia Udaltsova, a spokesperson for the Vanguard of Red Youth (AKM) leftist group said that at least five AKM activists had suffered injuries. She said the attackers had pneumatic weapons, smoke bombs, as well as batons. The leader of the Youth Union For Motherland — Rodina youth organization — said the attackers were wearing black masks. “They wielded black clubs and fired several shots from (pneumatic) pistols,” he said. Representatives of the organizations that suffered from the attack accused the pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi (Ours) for organizing the assault. The Echo of Moscow radio station quoted one of the National Bolsheviks, Pavel Zherebin, as saying that he had spotted several t-shirts with Nashi’s logo on the detained attackers as they pulled their coats over their heads. The activist promised that the photos proving his statement would be published on NBP’s web-site.