Brawls break out in Moscow airports
Irate holidaymakers beat up Aeroflot staff at a Moscow airport as thousands were stranded with little food or information, after icy rain and blackouts disrupted traffic for a third straight day.
Power outages at main Moscow airport (google photo)
At Sheremetyevo where Russia’s flagship carrier is based, Aeroflot personnel are now scared of dealing with agitated passengers, saying the airport did not have enough security guards, state-run RIA quoted an airline employee as saying.
Police said they were not involved in the reported violence at Sheremetyevo and declined to comment.
On Monday a group of passengers stormed passport control at Moscow’s Domodedovo, Russia’s biggest airport, where OMON riot police have since been dispatched.
“People are desperate. Fights have broken out. It feels like there is no air in here,” one woman at Domodedovo told Vesti 24 television on Tuesday.
Russia’s transport minister issued blistering criticism of the management of the country’s largest airport, Domodedovo, saying it should have shut because of the power cuts instead of keeping passengers hostage waiting for their flights.
“Here is a question for the airport’s management – why did they keep receiving passengers?” Igor Levitin was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
“After the lights went out, they should have shut!”
Prosecutors have launched a probe into the widespread delays at the Russian capital’s two main airports…..continued
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