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Bloodshed averted during riot at Makhachkala airport — minister

According to Dagestan's Minister for National Policy and Religious Affairs Enrik Muslimov, the negotiations with the rioters could fail

MAKHACHKALA, October 30. /TASS/. Dagestan's Minister for National Policy and Religious Affairs Enrik Muslimov, who directly negotiated with the rioters at Makhachkala airport, has said that bloodshed was averted on Sunday.

"At one point I thought the negotiations would fail and the worst would happen. <...> We literally managed to prevent bloodshed," Muslimov told TASS.

Several hundred people gathered at the Makhachkala airport on the evening of October 29 to protest against the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They broke into the airport’s building and landing area. The government of Dagestan reported that the situation was under control with law enforcement working at the site. A crisis management center, led by the republic’s head Sergey Melikov, was set up. Melikov slammed the actions by the protesters as a gross violation of law and warned about due consequences.