Two Nigerian students were attacked by a group of youths outside a store in Vladimir, Russia as police allegedly stood by and watched, according to a November 14, 2007 report by the local newspaper Khronometer. On November 3, the Vladimir State University students went to a store to buy some candy when they encountered a group of seven or eight youths who immediately started to yell at them. The students went into the store, and when they came out, they were attacked with bottles and fists and kicked multiple times. Police responding to their cries for help allegedly stood by and watched, not detaining anybody, and only offering a limp suggestion to "Disperse, there's no need to fight." A police official was quoted in the article saying that police are in the process of deciding whether to open a formal investigation into the attack.

Click "Read more" for the full story...

A Congolese student interviewed by the paper claimed that violence in Vladimir used to be worse. The path between the campus and a dormitory for foreign students was not lit, and foreign students started calling it "the corridor of death" in 2001 because of the number of times that local racists ambushed them there after dark. Now that the path is properly lit, the attacks have fallen in frequency, but a university official admits in the article that there is nothing that can be done to protect the safety of foreign students when they venture off campus. African students regularly encounter hostility in the city, including insults and worse, and rarely leave their dorms after nightfall, according to the article.

Technorati Tags: Russsia racism foreign students