Protesters force their way onto airport tarmac in Dagestan, Russia to intercept flight from Tel Aviv

At the Makhachkala airport in Dagestan, Russia, dozens of protesters who gathered because of an arriving flight from Tel Aviv broke onto the tarmac.

Sota reports that special forces have been deployed on the runway. The airport has paused all operations, with two incoming flights already sent into a holding pattern.

Ostorozhno, Novosti writes that the police have begun to jam communications in the vicinity of the airport to prevent the crowd from coordinating further actions.

A flight to Moscow, onto which many passengers from the Tel Aviv flight were transferring, was scheduled to depart at 9:00 p.m. local time.

Update: The Russian Investigative Committee’s Dagestan department has initiated a criminal case under the article on mass riots after a crowd shouting anti-Semitic slogans broke onto the Makhachkala airport runway, reports RIA Dagestan.

Meanwhile, police reinforcements and special units have arrived at the airfield. There is still no information on any arrests. 

Russia’s Internal Affairs Ministry said that it will be possible to identify all riot participants as there as there are surveillance cameras at the airport.

All air traffic has been stopped “until the situation normalizes,” reported Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency.

This is a developing story.