A mob of anti-Israeli protesters stormed into an airport in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan on Sunday night following calls on social media to block a flight from Tel Aviv from landing at an airport in the majority-Muslim region.
Video shared on social media showed hundreds of people gathered outside Makhachkala International Airport on Sunday evening, with demonstrators brandishing Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Israel chants.
Some of the signs held by demonstrators read “Child killers have no place in Dagestan” and “We are against Jewish refugees.”
The independent Medizona news website reported that the demonstration was prompted by calls spread on the Telegram messaging app earlier on Sunday to block a plane scheduled to arrive directly from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
According to local media, some of the demonstrators were stopping cars outside Makhachkala's airport to check the personal identification documents of drivers and passengers as they searched for Israeli citizens among the motorists.
The flight from Tel Aviv landed at 7:17 p.m. local time, according to the airport's website, after which the protesters stormed into the airport, breaking past security and running onto the tarmac.
One group of people who ran onto the airport's tarmac surrounded a plane and jumped onto one of its wings, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported.
Russia's civil aviation agency announced that all flights to and from Makhachkala International Airport would be temporarily suspended due to the security breach.
Video shared online showed what appeared to be riot police arriving at the airport, but its authenticity could not immediately be verified.
The Dagestan branch of Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said late Sunday night that it had opened a criminal case on charges of "organizing mass disorder," a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Regions across the North Caucasus, but especially Dagestan, have witnessed a series of anti-Israeli demonstrations in the weeks since Israel launched a relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas fighters' bloody attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
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