On November 22, a mass brawl involving foreign students occurred in Kazan, reported the publication «Groza» and local Telegram channels.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, students were standing in line at the department of external relations of Kazan University, where they were supposed to receive documents for living and studying in Russia. The exact reason for the fight is unknown, but as a reader of «Groza» who was nearby suggested, one of the students decided to skip the line. A mass brawl ensued.
The police arrived at the scene, and the officers detained several people, with a criminal case initiated against one of them for using violence against a representative of authority: he allegedly grabbed a policeman by the uniform and pushed him away. It later became known that the detainees were Iranian citizens.
The country's ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, condemned the detention of his compatriots, stating that «any inappropriate behavior towards Iranian students and citizens is subject to condemnation, and Russian responsible officials must answer for such unfortunate events». He later reported that all the students were released.
The Iranian Consul General in Kazan, Davoud Mirzakhani, arrived at the main building of KFU after the incident, where other Iranian students held a protest. He told them that «the Russian police must be dealt with for their inhumane behavior».
«The Russian police confuse the people of Iran with other nations. We will never allow anyone to treat representatives of our people abroad inhumanely and unlawfully. This must be officially clarified to the Iranian side, and the issue must be resolved within the framework of the law», — Mirzakhani is quoted by the Telegram channel «Yozh».