Some 150 migrants have reportedly been detained in New Moscow on suspicion of participating in a mass brawl. Novaya Gazeta reports they were detained yesterday while coming out of the Multifunctional Center for Migrants located in Sakharovo village in New Moscow.
“The detained migrants were taken away in three buses,” human rights activist Marina Pavlova told Novaya Gazeta. According to her, the migrants said that they had not participated in any brawl and they came to the Center to get necessary documents.
The human rights activists added that according to witnesses the brawl had taken place between taxi drivers.
Meanwhile Ekho Moskvy (Echo of Moscow), a Russian radio station based in Moscow, reports that it cannot be ruled out that OMON (special police unit) responded to report of witnesses about a conflict between local taxi drivers that took place not far from the Center.
Besides, there are rumors that Moscow police are carrying out operations to clear the city of illegal migrants in connection with the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Opened in Sakharovo village in January 2015, the Multifunctional Center for Migrants provides the following opportunities for foreign citizens: medical examination and certification conducting by specialists, including all the necessary tests confirming the absence of dangerous diseases; testing the knowledge of Russian language, history and laws of the Russian Federation and issuing the appropriate certificate; and legalization of TIN and registration.
