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10 November 2004
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Wednesday
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26 Ramazan 1425
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Hundreds storm president's office in Caucasus
MOSCOW, Nov 9: Hundreds of protestors rampaged on Tuesday through the president's office in the volatile Russian Caucasus republic of Karachayevo-Cherkessia to demand his resignation over the killings of seven people allegedly carried out by his son-in-law.
The crowd of people, including families of the victims, surged into the presidential administration and smashed office equipment and furniture, television footage broadcast by the NTV channel showed.
The clashes between the protestors, who numbered up to 2,000 according to the Russian media, and local police who fought back with tear gas, caused injuries on both sides including seven policemen, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.
The president of Karachayevo-Cherkessia, Mustafa Batdyev, had to flee the building through a back door. He later vowed to restore order and prevent any further disturbances.
"I have given orders to the republic's interior minister to take harsh measures to prevent disturbances," Batdyev told the Interfax news agency.
The protestors gathered in the central square on Tuesday morning after Russian prosecutors announced they had found the partly charred remains of seven bodies in a mine.
On October 22, the relatives of the victims had already occupied the president's office in protest. The Kremlin's new envoy to southern Russia, Dmitry Kozak, then met them to promise "an objective and complete inquiry" into the incident.
The victims, all members of influential clans in the republic, disappeared on the night of October 11, according to news reports. Prosecutors said all seven were believed killed.
Among those presumed dead was a member of the regional parliament, Rasul Bogatyryev, who was a shareholder in a local factory along with Ali Kaitov, the son-in-law of the Karachayevo-Cherkessia republic's president.
Bogatyryov disappeared along with the six others after meeting Kaitov to discuss their differences over the factory, reports said.
Kaitov and seven other people have been detained on suspicion of involvement in the killings, including four police officers.
Tensions in the North Caucasus region, one of the least stable in Russia, have spiked since the Beslan school hostage tragedy in early September and authorities are keeping a sharp eye out for further flare-ups of unrest there.-AFP
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