Dagestani students report that they were sent to Olympic Torch Relay to increase the crowd

In Dagestan, at the "Anji Arena" Stadium the ceremony of honouring the Olympic Flame was over. Students of the Kaspiysk Medical College were sent to the event as spectators in order to increase the audience, young people report.

"Eyewitnesses report that on the way to the stadium the flame quenched at least twice," a local resident Omar Magomedov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. He noted that the stalls of the "Anji Arena" designed for 30,000 spectators were full by less than a half.

Part of the audience was made up of students sent to the stadium by bosses of their educational institutions "in the voluntary-compulsory" manner. This was reported in the SMS-message that arrived to the service of the "Caucasian Knot". "Students were driven here from 8 a.m.; and they are still standing and waiting there under the rain. Nobody can leave, because they threaten to apply reprimands. The Olympic Flame is apparently more important than the youth health," wrote the reader.

This information was partially confirmed to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by students of the Kaspiysk Medical College. "Almost all the students, except for the girls wearing hijabs, were put into buses and brought to the "Anji -Arena" to create the crowd," said one of the students. "Classes were cancelled. We were told that if we quit, they'll remember. I don't know what they meant exactly, but most obeyed and went there," explained the girl.

Let us add here that the Chechen Republic is the next region to welcome the Olympic Torch Relay.