Mufti of Tatarstan called for compassion towards rioters at Makhachkala airport

The riots in Dagestan were “organized by forces from outside,” and their participants, who became victims of provocation, should be shown mercy, the Chief Mufti of Tatarstan Kamil Samigullin said today.

“Everyone strives to support Palestine in their own way. But what definitely won’t help it are pogroms and aggression, hooliganism, and outrage in regions far from it, as happened in Dagestan. To a certain extent, I understand the feelings of these Muslims: their hearts are breaking from injustice in Palestine. But their actions will only cause evil and harm to the participants of the pogroms themselves, their families, and the entire society of Russia," he wrote in his Telegram channel.

The incident in Dagestan is pure provocation, he said. “I urge, if possible, to show mercy towards those who fell for the provocation: it is clear that they did it out of desperation and a sense of injustice. I am sure that now after their actions were condemned by the entire Russian public, they have repented of what they did,” he noted.

A similar appeal was made by the former head of the reconciliation department of the Muftiate of Dagestan, Magomed-Rasul Saaduev, whose dismissal due to statements on the Palestinian issue was announced today by the Muftiate.