Police makes over 100 arrests after Khovanskoye Cemetery brawl

Some 300 police officers were called in to deal with a conflict at Khovanskoye Cemetery; over 100 incident participants have been arrested, a law enforcement source told Interfax on Sunday.

A total of 252 Moscow city police officers and 40 Moscow regional officers were sent to the scene after the mass brawl began at the cemetery, the source said. They have arrested 111 people at the scene and in the adjacent area

To prevent further fighting, the police had to fire warning shots, the source added.

The police recovered from the scene a Kalashnikov rifle, 51 empty cartridge cases of varying caliber, knuckles, knives, axes, sticks and metal pieces, the source said.

A 22-year-old Tajik man, who effectively lived at the cemetery, died from a gunshot wound in the chest, he said. A 42-year-old migrant and an unidentified man died after being run over by a vehicle, he said. There are no other deaths, the source said.

Police have launched a criminal inquiry into the incident on charges of two or more murders by an organized group, illicit trafficking of firearms, and premeditated hooliganism, (Articles 105, 222 and 213 of the Russian Criminal Code, respectively), the source said.