Africans 'under siege' in Moscow

[MpigaFilimbi]

Nearly 60% of black and African people living in Russia's capital Moscow have been physically assaulted in racially motivated attacks, says a new study.
Africans working or studying in the city live in constant fear of attack, according to the report by the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy.
A quarter of 200 people surveyed said they had been assaulted more than once. Some 80% had been verbally abused.
But the number of assaults was down from the MPC's last survey in 2002.
The report's clear conclusion was that Africans living in Russia exist in a state of virtual siege, says the BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes in Moscow.

Many African students in Moscow are afraid to go outside
Extreme violence
Many of the African respondents said they:

• Avoided using the Moscow metro
• Were also careful to avoid crowded public places
• Did not go out on Russian national holidays or on days when there were football matches

Many of the attacks on Africans were pre-meditated and extremely violent, the report found.
One Nigerian migrant interviewed by the BBC had been repeatedly stabbed in the back and then shot.
Another man said his attacker had attempted to remove his scalp.
Officially there are some 10,000 Africans living in Moscow, but far more are believed to live there illegally - many as economic migrants.
The Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy is an English-speaking interdenominational Christian congregation that has ministered to Moscow's foreign community since 1962.
Read some of your comments about this story:
As a foreigner you will never feel safe in this country.
Shairaz, St. Petersburg, Russia
I'm Asian, not black, but that was one of the main reasons why I left Moscow years ago. I did hear and see the violent assaults on just any black people in Moscow, and our school actually told all the black students not to come in for two weeks around Hitler's birthday for feared attacks. I've lived in many different parts of the world but Moscow certainly was the worst one in that respect. Such a shame.
B., Moscow, Russia
It is dangerous to use Moscow tube for all kinds of minorities, not only for Africans. Moscow hooligans point out different targets from the crowd. While visiting Moscow I try to look alike typical muscovite to avoid attention attraction. If you are in a crowd it's safe to use the tube and any other public areas.
Kirill, Rostov-on-Don, Russia
However sad it is, I have to admit that these facts are true. We are in 21st century, but still attitude towards non Russian people here in Moscow remains the same. Foreigners at least are treated with suspicion; at most they are attacked, bullied. I don't see that many Africans on the streets, you can hardly find them in public places. Even though I know that many study in Moscow. When you see Africans in Moscow, they always go in large groups of four or five people, never alone. Seeing a black person here is still exotic. Ordinary people just stare at them, but there are groups of youngsters, who think that Africans should not be here. Listening to all of this horrible stories on radio, TV about Africans being attacked, I am surprised why there are any who choose to come to Moscow.
Svetlana, Moscow, Russia
For me it comes down to one thing, these people are living in the past. We welcome every foreigner including Europeans back home. The only way we can improve our own communities, we come and learn, then take back our experiences back home. Unless someone realises this, tough time are ahead of us.
O., Moscow, Russia
Really? I lived in Moscow for four years and never once witnessed the subject of the report. It was something reported in the foreign press which mysteriously I and my colleagues never saw. Like most everything else reported on Russia, it was not true. However, I have seen rampant and very unpleasant prejudice twice in my life once in Nova Scotia and once in Salisbury in Wiltshire.
Michael Hockney, Vancouver, Canada
While I didn't live in Moscow, I did live in St. Petersburg for the winter of 2005 on a study abroad trip. Even then, the racial violence was startling... people were being attacked on the streets just for the colour of their skin. The anti-caucasus sentiment as spread to a nationalistic furore against any foreigners, students included. There was a contingent of African students at the university where I studied, and they all lived in the dormitory in the same building as the classes. They all travelled together if they had to go anywhere, while I felt fine walking alone in the dark winter days. I felt so guilty for feeling safe inside my white skin, and so horrified that innocents were being attacked just because they were there. This is a problem that the West has roundly ignored for too many years.
Trista, Virginia Beach, VA, USA

 

[Mwawado]

Muweka Bandiko nafikiri article hii ni ya muda mrefu,Nakumbuka kuiona kama miaka sita iliyopita,kipindi hicho nikiwa njiani kwenda Moscow......Hali ya Ubaguzi imepungua sana,Kutokana na Warusi wengi kuweza kutoka na kuingia Urusi pia hali ya uchumi ya watu wa kawaida kukua,lakini kipindi cha miaka 1994 - 2000 hali ilikuwa mbaya na kuna Watanzania 3 katika Majimbo tofauti walishambuliwa na Warusi, sababu kubwa ya mashambulishi hayo ilitokana na hali ngumu ya Uchumi na Ubaguzi...Nakumbuka nilikuwa mmojawapo ya watu walioenda Russia katika Jimbo la Varonesh kumchukua Mtanzania aliyechinjwa huko baada ya kupokonywa gari lake.

Warusi wengi hawawapendi wageni haswa Waafrika,Vijana wengi wa Kirusi hawana kazi na hawawezi kumudu maisha,wanawachukia Waafrika kwa sababu kuna Imani kwamba Waafrika wanasomeshwa Bure kwa Msaada wa serikali ya Russia...pia wasichana wengi warembo wanapenda kutoka na Wageni kwa matarajio ya kupunguza makali ya maisha,kitendo hicho kinawafanya vijana wa kiume wengi kuwachukia wageni kwa kuona kuwa wanawapora wasichana wao.

Miji mikubwa kama Moscow,St.Petersburg,Rostov na Nizhniy huwa na kiwango kikubwa cha Ubaguzi.

****Hayo Maandishi ya kirusi katika hiyo picha kwenye bandiko yanasomeka/yana maana "Tunaupenda unazi" ni wazi kuwa picha na maandishi hayo yamewekwa mahali ambako panapita wanafunzi wa kigeni (foreigners)

 

[Saint Ivuga]

mkuu ubaguzi upo moscow haujaisha yaani wewe ukienda kupanda underground train mwenyewe ujue umekwisha ...ni serious na wala si utani ..ila watoto wao wakali noma ..ahahha

 

[Mwawado]

mkuu ubaguzi upo moscow haujaisha yaani wewe ukienda kupanda underground train mwenyewe ujue umekwisha ...ni serious na wala si utani ..ila watoto wao wakali noma ..ahahha

Asante kwa Taarifa kaka Abiziani jina na location yako inaniambia kuwa upo Russia,nilipata Taarifa kutoka kwa Mdau mmoja kuwa hali hivi sasa ina uafadhali,Hivi bado watanzania wengi wanakwenda kusoma pande hiyo ya dunia?na bado Serikali inawapeleka vijana kwa udhamini wao,Wanaleta stipendyu kwa wakati?Kwa wote mlioko huko,Jaribuni kutembea kwa makundi makubwa,na punguzeni matembezi yasiyo na lazima...Inasikitisha Kuona kuwa mtu anarudi nyumbani na kilema au mfu wakati alitumwa na Wazazi au serikali kwenda kutafuta Elimu.

Kwa wale waliopitia huko miaka ya 80's na 90's bado watakuwa wana kumbukumbu ya Dr. aliyepigwa huko Ukraine na kundi la wahuni kiasi cha kupoteza kumbukumbu,aliporudishwa nyumbani Tanzania ilikuwa hudhuni kubwa kwa ndugu na Jamaa.Chorne Abizian kuwa muangalifu katika shughuli zako za kila siku huko Sibirii.

 

[Saint Ivuga]

Asante kwa Taarifa kaka Abiziani jina na location yako inaniambia kuwa upo Russia,nilipata Taarifa kutoka kwa Mdau mmoja kuwa hali hivi sasa ina uafadhali,Hivi bado watanzania wengi wanakwenda kusoma pande hiyo ya dunia?na bado Serikali inawapeleka vijana kwa udhamini wao,Wanaleta stipendyu kwa wakati?Kwa wote mlioko huko,Jaribuni kutembea kwa makundi makubwa,na punguzeni matembezi yasiyo na lazima...Inasikitisha Kuona kuwa mtu anarudi nyumbani na kilema au mfu wakati alitumwa na Wazazi au serikali kwenda kutafuta Elimu.

Kwa wale waliopitia huko miaka ya 80's na 90's bado watakuwa wana kumbukumbu ya Dr. aliyepigwa huko Ukraine na kundi la wahuni kiasi cha kupoteza kumbukumbu,aliporudishwa nyumbani Tanzania ilikuwa hudhuni kubwa kwa ndugu na Jamaa.Chorne Abizian kuwa muangalifu katika shughuli zako za kila siku huko Sibirii.

Thanks mkuu tupo makini sana ...ujue hawa jamaa wana siku zao hasa kwenye birthday ya hitler ukitoa pua nje tu wanakupa kibano au hata kukuua.......

 

[Saint Ivuga]

Asante kwa Taarifa kaka Abiziani jyako inaniambiina na location a kuwa upo aRussi,nilipata Taarifa kutoka kwa Mdau mmoja kuwa hali hivi sasa ina uafadhali,Hivi bado watanzania wengi wanakwenda kusoma pande hiyo ya dunia?na bado Serikali inawapeleka vijana kwa udhamini wao,Wanaleta stipendyu kwa wakati?Kwa wote mlioko huko,Jaribuni kutembea kwa makundi makubwa,na punguzeni matembezi yasiyo na lazima...Inasikitisha Kuona kuwa mtu anarudi nyumbani na kilema au mfu wakati alitumwa na Wazazi au serikali kwenda kutafuta Elimu.

Kwa wale waliopitia huko miaka ya 80's na 90's bado watakuwa wana kumbukumbu ya Dr. aliyepigwa huko Ukraine na kundi la wahuni kiasi cha kupoteza kumbukumbu,aliporudishwa nyumbani Tanzania ilikuwa hudhuni kubwa kwa ndugu na Jamaa.Chorne Abizian kuwa muangalifu katika shughuli zako za kila siku huko Sibirii.

kaka pale nilikaa mwaka mmoja tu nikatoka nduki nani anapenda kufa??

 

[Nyaralego]

Yet, the very same Russians are all over, even in East Africa wapo tu wengi waki fanya biashara haramu....hizo massage parlour mnadhanai ni za kina nani?
the Russian youth are bitter and taking it out on the Africans...Africans do stand out..

Kuna ndugu yangu alisoma kule and what he had to say was very disturbing and damn right scary.

And it gets worse.

 

[Abdulhalim]

Dawa ni kutembea na cha moto tu...he he he..

 

[TANMO]

Kinachonishangaza zaidi ni jinsi Serikali inavyozidi kupeleka vijana wetu kule, tena wanawapeleka wengi kweli kweli. Kuna chuo kimoja Moscow kwa sasa kuna wanafunzi wakitanzania takribani 200. Mungu awaepusha dhidi ya hayo majanga.

 

[Saint Ivuga]

Kinachonishangaza zaidi ni jinsi Serikali inavyozidi kupeleka vijana wetu kule, tena wanawapeleka wengi kweli kweli. Kuna chuo kimoja Moscow kwa sasa kuna wanafunzi wakitanzania takribani 200. Mungu awaepusha dhidi ya hayo majanga.

Huwezi jua labda kwenye hilo kundi kuna mkono wa mtu nae anakula hapo....ina maana hakuna nchi nyingine???