A mob looking for Israelis and Jews overran an airport in Russia’s Caucasus republic of Dagestan on Sunday, after rumours spread that a flight was arriving from Israel.

In ?? Makhachkala, locals storm the airport after a plane from Tel-Aviv arrives. They check passports, looking for Israelis. The police don’t interfere. #Israel #IsraelPalestine pic.twitter.com/2mnTBiq1kK

— olexander scherba?? (@olex_scherba) October 29, 2023

The violence in the mostly Muslim region, which erupted amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, prompted Israel to call on Russia to protect its citizens.

Dozens of protesters, many of them chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) broke through doors and barriers, with some running onto the runway and others, according to videos posted on social media, and Russia’s RT and Izvestia media.

AFP could not immediately verify the videos.

Shortly afterwards, Russia’s aviation agency Rossavitsia announced that it had closed the airport to incoming and outgoing flights and that the security forces had arrived on site.

“The situation is under control, law enforcement is working at the scene,” said a statement from the government of Russia’s Dagestan Republic posted on Telegram.

Rossavitsia announced later on Sunday that the airport had been “freed” from the mob and would remain closed until November 6.

Earlier several local Telegram channels showed photos and videos of dozens of men waiting outside the airport to stop cars, with some of them attempting to break down security barriers.

One protester could be seen in the videos holding a sign reading “Child killers have no place in Dagestan”.

Other videos showed a crowd inside an airport terminal trying to break down doors as staff members tried to deter them.

Hamas stormed across the Gaza border on October 7 in the deadliest attack in Israel’s history, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 230 others, according to Israeli officials.

In relation, Israel has relentlessly bombed the coastal strip, killing more than 8,000 people, half of them children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Calls for calm

A statement Sunday evening from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said: “Israel expects the Russian authorities to protect all Israeli citizens and all Jews, and to act decisively against the rioters and against incitement to violence against Jews and Israelis.”

Earlier Sunday, Akhmed Dudayev, the minister of information in Dagestan’s neighbour Chechnya, warned on Telegram against “provocations” and called for calm in the face of rising tensions in the Caucasus.

The Dagestan government posted on Telegram telling the mob “not to continue illegal acts and not to interfere with the work of airport employees”. 

The statement added: “It is not easy for each of us to stand and watch the inhumane massacre of a civilian population — the Palestinian people.

“At the same time, we urge residents of the republic not to succumb to provocations of destructive groups and not to create panic in society.”

The Flightradar website, indicated that a Red Wings flight out of Tel Aviv had landed at Makhachkala at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT).

The independent Russian media outlet Sota said it was a transiting flight that had been due to take off again for Moscow two hours later.

Chechnya and Dagestan are two volatile republics in the Russian Caucasus, both of which have mainly Muslim populations.

Earlier on Sunday, the RIA Novosti news agency reported that a Jewish centre in another North Caucasus republic — Kabardino-Balkaria — had been set on fire in the city of Nalchik. 

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday said a caste census was essential if one supported reservations as the exercise would help fix the quota process for different sections of society.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress’ Rajiv Bhawan in Raipur, the former Union minister asked if tigers and elephants can be counted, why can’t there be a caste census in the country.

“We should know how many people belong to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, non backward classes. How can we earmark reservations without data? If you support reservation,then you must support caste counting,” he said.

“How can there be reservation without caste census? Even for a reservation of 10 per cent for economically weaker sections (EWS), you must count first before you can reserve,” he added.

Queried about the need for loan waiver for farmers, Mr Chidambaram said agriculture must be profitable if it has to be sustainable.

“The bulk of citizens of Chhattisgarh are farmers and 32 per cent of the state’s GDP comes from farming. Studies show farmers incur debts. It is only when rapid industrialization takes place in the service sector and agriculture becomes a small portion of GDP, you can think of other alternatives,” he said.

Agriculture is the mainstay of Chhattisgarh and farmers must be given relief from time to time, he claimed.

The Congress has assessed that farmers are still facing a debt burden and, therefore, a promise has been made of loan waiver if the party retains power in the state, where Assembly polls will be held on November 7 and 17, he said.

If any other state makes such an assessment and believes a loan waiver is required, they too can go for it, he added.

“There is no one model that applies all over India. The only person who believes in one model, one ration card, one election, one this and one that is Narendra Modi. I don’t believe in it. Each state has a unique situation, each state requires a different solution,” Mr Chidambaram said taking a swipe at the prime minister.

Asked about Naxalism in the state, Chidambaram said the Congress cannot look at the fight against the menace from a party viewpoint, adding that a major part of the credit for the decline in Maoist violence must go to the Bhupesh Baghel government.

“When the Manmohan Singh government was there, we worked with state governments and considerably reduced Naxalite violence. But in the last five years, Naxalite violence further reduced in Chhattisgarh. A major part of the credit must go to the Baghel government for that,” he claimed.

There is no “this party or that party” while tackling Naxalism as it is a major problem confronting the nation, he said, adding the fight against the menace would continue if the Congress comes to power at the Centre.

Highlighting the Baghel government’s welfare schemes and achievements, Mr Chidambaram said all promises made so far will be fulfilled if the Congress retains power.

The Congress’ announcements include procurement of 20 quintals of paddy per acre from farmers, agriculture loan waiver, caste census, houses to 17.50 lakh families under the Chief Minister Housing Scheme, annual incentive of Rs 4000 to tendu leaf collectors. Rs 10 per kilogram additional MSP on minor forest produce, no fees in government schools and colleges from kindergarten to post-graduation, Mr Chidambaram said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, gunning for a third term, has a request for Bollywood: he wants them to redo the superhit ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’.

Mr Khan, born in London in 1970 to parents who had arrived from Pakistan, explains why he believes that this is the right moment for such a request from a city like London which isn’t unfamiliar to Bollywood.

“I have a Proposal to Bollywood. Please redo Amar Akbar Anthony in the UK because we have a Christian king (Ling Charles III), a Muslim mayor (he himself) and a Hindu Prime Minister (Rishi Sunak),” said Mr Khan, who grew up in public housing with his six brothers and sister in Tooting, an ethnically diverse residential area in the south of the city.

“I’d get to play Amitabh Bachchan’s part,” the Mayor said with a chuckle.

The movie featured Vinod Khanna (a Hindu police officer), Rishi Kapoor (a Muslim qawwali singer) and Amitabh Bachchan (Christian liquor seller). 

“London is the number one place for Bollywood films to be filmed and for people to come and invest in. I’m looking forward to Indians coming here as students, as tourists, as investors, and for locations for Bollywood movies,” said Mr Khan, who joined the Labour Party aged 15.

Mr Khan regularly recalls how his father drove London’s famous red buses, his mother was a seamstress and one of his brothers is a motor mechanic.

“One of the reasons why London is the greatest city in the world is because Indians have chosen to make it their home. These are Londoners who have gone on to become doctors, business people, politicians, chemists, pharmacists, scientists, journalists and so forth. Our diversity is a strength. London is a place where you can fulfil your potential. I call it the London Promise,” said Mr Khan, who made a name for himself as a vocal critic of Brexit. 

In 2005 he gave up his legal career on becoming the member of parliament for Tooting, where he still lives with his lawyer wife Saadiya and their two daughters.