Police outside Chelyabinsk launch series of sweeps and raids against local Roma community after late October riot

Police in a town outside Chelyabinsk that witnessed rioting last month after a taxi driver’s murder have been conducting sweeps of “dense Roma settlements,” handing out dozens of citations for traffic violations and disorderly conduct.

The raids are an apparent response to a riot on October 24, when dozens of men attacked a Roma settlement in the town of Korkino after a teenager living in the Roma community allegedly murdered rideshare driver Elena Manzhosova. Rioters damaged property and faced off against police, accusing the authorities of ignoring years of complaints about criminal acts allegedly by local Roma members.

After the riot in late October, federal investigators announced the apprehension of a suspect in Manzhosova’s killing and the arrest of someone accused of firing a gun at the rioters.