Murder of anti-fascist sparks march in Moscow

Anti-fascists have been marching through Moscow city centre to protest against the killing of a young activist. 21-year-old Aleksey Krylov was attacked by a group of young men as he headed to a punk music concert in a central Moscow nightclub last weekend

Members of the Antifa anti-nazi movement claim the assault was planned by neo-Nazis and discussed in an Internet forum of Spartak Moscow football club.

Events in memory of Aleksey Krylov were also held by anti-fascists in other European cities, including Berlin and Milan.

Aleksey and his friends are said to have been on their way to the concert when they saw a group of men standing at the corner. They crossed the street to avoid them but it was to no avail. The men, carrying knives and shouting abuse, ran across the street and began to attack.

Aleksey was pushed to the curb and stabbed several times.

“They thought we were anti-fascist activists but we’re not and we told them so. But these people didn’t care, I think they wanted to kill someone and went for it because we looked different,” said Stas, a witness.

Entries on forums, which are now deleted, were alive with the promise of confrontation, giving advice on how best to beat the so-called anti-fascists going to a punk concert.

This isn’t the first attack linked to Spartak fans, who have a reputation for being violent.

And while tracking xenophobic hatred on the Internet is difficult, anti-fascist groups refuse to be silent victims.