Ilya Varlamov's account of a race riot in Moscow

Photo by Ilya Varlamov shows "Muscovite preparing for the Olympics in Sochi."

Race riots shook Moscow Saturday, leaving 1 or 2 dead and many more injured.  We have just posted a translation of blogger Ilya Varlamov's account of the riots, along with several disturbing videos.   Ilya's day at the demonstration began quietly enough:

 This morning Kronstadt Blvd. in Moscow was closed. Thousands of people in a procession came to a halt near the spot where their comrade Yegor Sviridov had died.   Sviridov had been killed in a brawl that took place here on the night of December 6th. Groups of fans continuously replaced each other. All was quiet. There were no slogans, no flags, no disputes with the police.

But within a few hours, all hell had broken loose.   Here's but one passage from Yarlamov's shocking account:

"I can not forget old Uzbek man in the subway.  He was not beaten, he just sat in a corner shaking and crying, but looked as beat up as the others. "

A picture of a rioter holding a metal pole is captioned:

"Muscovite preparing for the Olympics in Sochi."

The riots come as Russia prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, a city located on the shore of the Black Sea beneath the snow-capped peaks of the Caucasus Mountains.    In Moscow today demonstrators denounced the Caucasians (the Russian term for people from the Caucasus region) before beating them up.    It is a tragic commentary on the state of Russia that the people of Sochi -- and various minority regions -- feel completely unwelcome in the capital city of their own country.    How long can such a civilization endure?

Complete coverage of the race riots in Moscow at THERE LIVE.