The World : Soviet Riot Toll Put at 100
About 100 people were killed and scores injured in ethnic rioting between the tiny Meskhetin Turkish community and majority Uzbeks and police in Uzbekistan last weekend, Soviet television reported. More than 6,000 riot police were flown to the remote manufacturing region in the far eastern tip of the Soviet Central Asian republic to help maintain order, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said. The television news program “Vremya” said that “no one can answer the question” of what sparked the violence. However, other sources said it started when a Turk insulted a Uzbek produce seller in the town of Tashlak. The ethnic clashes, which began May 23, were the worst to hit the Soviet Union since ethnic clashes in Azerbaijan in February, 1988.
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