File photo shows Russian police detaining migrant workers in a raid.
Several Russian human rights campaigners have warned of rising xenophobia, saying the Moscowâ„¢s mayoral elections are being stained by a Å“visceral hatred” of immigrants.
The statement came from five major rights leaders, including Lyudmila Alekseyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and Arseny Roginsky, chair of Memorial, in an open letter published by Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta on Wednesday.
“Our society is being drawn into such depths of visceral hatred that the only way out of it is civil war,” said the leaders of five of Russia’s top rights groups.
The warning came as all Moscow mayoral candidates have proposed during their campaigns toughening immigration policies, including the introduction of visa demands for post-Soviet countries.
Among the candidates are the capitalâ„¢s current mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, who is seeking re-election, as well as opposition leaders Alexei Navalny and Sergei Mitrokhin, who all are holding an anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Meanwhile ahead of mayoral polls, Moscow police have increased their raids of underground operations, where migrants from southeast or central Asia have been exploited by employers. Last month authorities arrested 1,200 Vietnamese people working and living under filthy conditions in a sweatshop.
Those arrested were taken to temporary camps until deportation. Rights groups have condemned the inhumane conditions the migrants are experiencing at the camps.
In recent years, hundreds of thousands of immigrants have arrived to Russia from former Soviet Union republics, such as Tajikistan, to work as street cleaners or on construction sites. However, the migrant workers frequently suffer poor labor and living conditions as well as being regarded with contempt by many residents in Moscow.
CAH/SS
Republished from: Press TV