Posted on 07/10/2002 8:57:33 AM PDT by LibWhacker
MOSCOW –– A man was killed Wednesday when a sign with an offensive slogan exploded as he was trying to remove it . . .
Two similar explosions hit other cities in Russia in recent months when passers-by tried to remove roadside signs reading "Death to Jews," . . .
Full story here.
You can find AP news stories on Yahoo.
Wed Jul 10, 7:31 AM ET
MOSCOW (AP) - A man was killed Wednesday when a sign with an offensive slogan exploded as he tried to remove it from a park in the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, officials said.
The man was walking his dog in the city of Baltiisk when he noticed the sign on a patch of grass and tried to take it down, the regional emergencies department said. The agency would not say what the sign said.
A woman was also injured and hospitalized, officials said. State-run RTR television said she was in serious condition.
Two similar explosions hit other cities in Russia in recent months when passers-by tried to remove roadside signs reading "Death to Jews," injuring three people. The incidents came amid mounting concerns about racist violence around the country.
Investigators at the scene of Wednesday's blast said it likely stemmed from a dispute between local criminal groups. News reports said the sign bore the name "Koval" and obscene words.
"There was no terrorist act," Nikolai Dashkin, a prosecutor in Baltiisk, told RTR. "It was most likely criminal infighting. It was aimed at a concrete person, but a different person happened to be there."
Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, however, said the incident was of an "extremist character," and urged stricter police action against such incidents, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
President Vladimir Putin has spoken out against extremist and racially motivated violence, and parliament recently passed a new anti-extremism law. But critics say the law is too broad and could be used to stifle any opposition.
The Interior Ministry issued a warning Wednesday urging residents not to remove anti-Semitic or obscene signs and to immediately call police, ITAR-Tass reported. The ministry press service could not confirm the warning.
This is an excellent source for up to the minute AP stories you can post. Have Fun.
Well, not the first one. :-)
Copycat Anti-Semitic Sign in Far East
Friday, Jul. 5, 2002. Page 4
The Associated Press VLADIVOSTOK, Far East -- Police sappers in the Pacific port of Vladivostok on Thursday gingerly removed an anti-Semitic sign from the side of a road and blew up suspicious-looking sacks that were wired to the poster.
The hand-painted sign, saying "Death to Jews," appeared to be inspired by a similar placard, rigged with explosives, on a highway outside Moscow in May. When a passer-by tried to take down that sign, it blew up in her face, leaving her with eye injures.
Since the May incident, several copycat signs with dummy explosives have been found on Russian roads.
The Vladivostok sign was erected in the city center overnight and police received the first reports from citizens in the morning, a police spokesman said.
Three bags wired to the sign were destroyed by a special device, said Igor Shilov, a spokesman for the Federal Security Service, which participated in the police operation. It was then found that the bags contained fake bombs carved out of wood, he said.
Terrorism was mentioned by the Russians the first time this happened. Guess they decided to play by the rules.
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