Recent incidents of vandalism targeting ethnic Armenians in Russia’s Northern Caucasus have raised inter-ethnic tensions, according to separate reports by the Regnum news agency. The latest incident took place on July 29, 2005. According to a Regnum report the next day, 29 gravestones in the cemetery of Verkhny Yurt (Krasnodar region) were toppled and defaced. Most of the gravestones marked the final resting places of ethnic Armenians. Local police believe the vandalism was the work of a mentally ill person, and point to the words “schizophrenia” painted on many of the gravestones. The local Armenian community, however, sees the incident as an act of ethnic hatred and are demanding that police treat it as such.
Considering the fact that on July 16, an Armenian church was burned down by arsonists in the city of Budyonnovsk, according to a July 19 Regnum report, the attitude of local Armenians to the cemetery vandalism is understandable.
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