Teachers at a school in the city of Essentuki were harassed by diasporas after they took away Armenian and Greek flags from students during the New Year celebration.
As Day.Az reports with reference to Russian media, in Essentuki, at a school disco, teenagers began to riot – they waved the flags of Armenia and Greece and turned on music, despite the fact that the holiday was dedicated to the New Year, and not to the cultures of different countries. Two teachers who noticed the beginning of the booth intervened and took the flags from the hands of the schoolchildren.
The incident was filmed by schoolchildren and spread across social networks. The videos angered members of the diaspora, who launched a campaign against teachers demanding their dismissal. After this, at least one of the teachers began to receive threats and insults simply for doing her job well and maintaining order in the educational institution, Russian media indicate.
Armenian political scientist Vladimir Poghosyan fueled the passions. He demanded punishment of teachers under Articles 282 and 137 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. And he called out: “This information needs to be disseminated in order to prevent such attitudes in the future.” After this provocation, representatives of the Armenian diaspora in Russia launched an action to collect complaints to the Ministry of Education, the prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, demanding the dismissal of teachers.
The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, requested a report on an investigation into an incident involving bullying of school teachers in the Stavropol region after a New Year’s disco. The Investigative Committee confirms this fact: “Representatives of diaspora communities send complaints against teachers to various authorities demanding their dismissal.”
Currently, a procedural check is being carried out (Articles 282, 213 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Bastrykin instructed the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Stavropol, Sidorov, to report on the progress of the inspection.