The police have prevented a mass ethnic conflict between Uzbek and Armenian communities at the Sverdlovsk Region. Firearms, baseball bats and gas containers were confiscated, RIA Novosti cites spokesman of the regional police directorate Valery Gorelykh.
He explained that the conflict started on April 29. Natives of the communities met at a café in Kamensk-Uralsky. A brawl happened. Two Uzbeks were then beaten up near the café the next day. The police suspected that it was a revenge. An Armenian was hospitalized with gunshots on June 4. His car was supposedly shot at from a hunting gun.
Police Chief of the Sverdlovsk Region Mikhail Borodin was preventing further escalations. He sent a group of about 50 special police officers to maintain order. 19 people, including the organizer of the brawl, were detained. The police say that a few dozens more will soon join the detained from the Chelyabinsk and Kurgan Regions. Locals from Kurgan were the only ones to arrive.
The police consider initiating a criminal case.
