Moscow Braces For New Race Riots

Moscow police are on alert for a possibly violent ultranationalist protest.

Moscow police are on high alert after a major ultranationalist movement issued a call to arms for its followers in a potential face-off with gangs from Russia's predominantly-Muslim Caucasus.

The Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) called on Moscow women and children to stay at home and all ethnic-Russian men to arm themselves and come to the site of the potential mass brawl on December 15.

Rumours have been circulating on the Internet that a showdown between the ultranationalists and armed gangs from Russia's North Caucasus has been set up outside the Kievsky train station at 1600 Prague time on December 15.

The ethnic tensions were sparked this month by a deadly attack on a Spartak Moscow supporter by a group of young men from Russia's south.

compiled from agency reports