The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Nationalist Russian party starts campaign against immigrants

On the television screen, three dark-skinned men from the Caucasus sit sullenly munching watermelon in a Moscow courtyard, then brazenly toss the chewed rinds into the path of a young blond woman pushing a baby carriage. Two ethnic Russians glare at the watermelon marauders. "Clean it up," one of them says menacingly. The words "Let's clean our city of trash" flash across the screen. When the political ad in the campaign for today's Moscow City Council elections aired, human-rights groups went apoplectic. One of its "stars," Dmitry Rogozin, the leader of the up-and-coming nationalist Rodina party, insisted with wide-eyed confusion that he had been misunderstood. But just as the ad was making its debut, members of a largely Muslim immigrant community rioted in France. Now the watermelon ad has been dubbed in French, and features a new slogan: "France, One Year Ago."