Police and up to 2,000 football fans protesting the death of a Spartak Moscow supporter are facing off near Red Square, Russian media reports said on Saturday afternoon.
Estimates as to the number of fans involved vary from “several hundred” to “around 2,000.”
The supporters are gathered at central Moscow’s Manezh Square and have so far ignored police demands to disperse. The area has been sealed off and police reinforcements, including riot police, are on their way.
A rally and march passed without serious incident earlier in the day in the Russian capital. There were however reports of serious fighting between fans and riot police in St Petersburg.
The fans, who are reported to have been joined by members of nationalist movements, are protesting the death of a well-known Spartak supporter - and member of an organized hooligan group - in Moscow earlier in the week. On Tuesday’s some 1,000 fans blocked a busy road in the north-west of the capital and fought running battles with police in protest over his death.
Yegor Sviridov, 28, was killed by four shots from a rubber-bullet pistol during mass brawl with internal migrants from the North Caucasus region. Police have already detained a suspect from the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.
MOSCOW, December 11 (RIA Novosti)
