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DERBENT, Russia (Reuters) - There were few visitors to Derbent s sprawling Jewish cemetery in Russian s Muslim-majority Dagestan region on Thursday, but some of those laying flowers on relatives graves said an anti-Semitic riot four days earlier had left them feeling unsettled. Such things upset us a lot, said Zoya Solomonova, who now lives in St Petersburg but recalled growing up in a neighbourhood of Derbent where she said Russians, Jews, Azerbaijanis and others all got along. We want peace and friendship to be always present here, she said. The riot, at an airport in the regional capital of Makhachkala 66 miles (107 km) from Derbent, saw hundreds of Dagestanis, mostly young men, rampage through the terminal building and onto the tarmac hunting for Israeli citizens and Jewish people who had just flown in on a flight from Tel Aviv. Apparently caught off guard, the authorities managed to evacuate the passengers to safety, but not before a bus carrying them had been chased around the a
“I can’t describe how shocking it is to see neighbors who we played with as children and whom we visited when we went back, turn on our community so violently and so suddenly," Stas Mardakhayev said.
There were few visitors to Derbent's sprawling Jewish cemetery in Russian's Muslim-majority Dagestan region on Thursday, but some of those laying flowers on relatives' graves said an anti-Semitic riot four days earlier had left them feeling unsettled. "Such things upset us a lot," said Zoya Solomonova, who now lives in St Petersburg but recalled growing up in a neighbourhood of Derbent where she said Russians, Jews, Azerbaijanis and others all got along. The riot, at an airport in the regional capital of Makhachkala 66 miles (107 km) from Derbent, saw hundreds of Dagestanis, mostly young men, rampage through the terminal building and onto the tarmac hunting for Israeli citizens and Jewish people who had just flown in on a flight from Tel Aviv.