Pro-Palestine Protesters Storm Dagestan Airport in Hunt for “Israelis” Aboard Flight from Occupied Territories

By Staff, Agencies

Hundreds of people stormed into the main airport in Russia’s Dagestan region and onto the landing field on Sunday evening in an attempt to confront "Israeli" passengers aboard a flight from the “Israeli”-occupied Palestinian territories.

The protesters, many of them chanting “Allahu Akbar” [God is greatest], broke through doors and barriers, with some running onto the runway, according to videos posted on social media.

“There were hundreds at the [Makhachkala] airport. About 50 men approached the airplane and asked passengers if they were Jews. I said no. I’m Russian. They wanted to see my passport. I had a Russian passport. They hung around there and then pulled back at a certain point,” one eyewitness said in a recording obtained by Carmel News, a Telegram channel that focuses on Russia and Ukraine.

None of the passengers were hurt in the incident, according to Alex Bendersky, a Russian-speaking “Israeli” who covered the event on Carmel News.

Many of the men in the crowd had Palestinian flags. They came after another Telegram channel called for men to arrive at the airport to confront passengers of flight WZ 4728 by Red Wings, a Russian airline, which took off from “Tel Aviv”. The messages called on protesters to “avenge Gaza”.

According to officials in the besieged Strip, “Israeli” strikes have killed more than 8,000 people in Gaza.

The website Flightradar indicated that a Red Wings flight out of Tel Aviv had landed at Makhachkala at 7 p.m. 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.

Videos from Sunday’s incident showed protesters approaching the plane, after it landed from the “Israeli” entity, and buses that airport authorities provided the passengers to transport them out of the airport.

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.