20 February 2004, 12:06
Ban on lessons of peace arranged by center of Chechen culture "Vaynakh" in Yekaterinburg schools
A peaceful action arranged in Yekaterinburg by the human rights society "Memorial" and the center of Chechen culture "Vaynakh" ended with a scandal. After the Moscow metro blast, Ural Chechens suggested giving lessons of tolerance and peace at local schools. They were going to tell children that not all Caucasian people are terrorists and the only way to establish order and peace in our multinational country is to learn to understand and listen to each other but not to fan nationalistic sentiment. But before the human rights activists had had time to unroll their posters in the first school chosen, the police came to the educational institution.
The head of the district popular schooling department, Marina Kopilova, ordered to stop the lesson in categorical terms without explaining the reasons for banning the action. The police watched the Chechens and human rights activists being evicted from the school but preferred to remain aloof and not to interfere in the situation. The chairman of the Sverdlovsk society of Chechen culture "Vainakh", Adam Kalayev, said Chechens had never yet been faced with such aggressive resistance on the official level at "peaceful" structures.
Source: Rosbalt News Agency
