Recent riots on Manezhnaya Square next to the Kremlin showed that Russian soccer fans have become a powerful community who can mobilize thousands very quickly around an event. Last week, that event was the commemoration of Yegor Sviridov, a fan of the Moscow soccer club “Spartak” who was murdered in during a brawl among soccer fans on December 6. The memorial turned riot, and the crowd attacked people from North Caucasian and Central Asian republics, with many injured and one killed [RUS]. This was the third memorial for Sviridov, and all were characterized by their xenophobia and dissatisfaction with a system of justice that failed to prosecute Sviridov's killers.
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