MOSCOW -- Russian police have detained about 1,800 suspected illegal migrant workers at a market in the city of Odintsovo near Moscow.
Moscow Oblast Interior Affairs Department officials told journalists that 240 of the detained individuals had been charged with immigration-law violations and 68 are facing charges of documents forgery and the organization of illegal immigration.
Russian authorities have intensified efforts against illegal migrant workers after a policeman was severely beaten in a Moscow market last month.
Thousands of suspected illegal immigrants, mainly from Central Asia, have been arrested since late July.
Since then, about 600 of them, including children, have been held in a tent camp in Moscow.
Moscow human rights activists have been demanding the tent camp's closure, citing poor conditions there and calling them inhumane.
Moscow Oblast Interior Affairs Department officials told journalists that 240 of the detained individuals had been charged with immigration-law violations and 68 are facing charges of documents forgery and the organization of illegal immigration.
Russian authorities have intensified efforts against illegal migrant workers after a policeman was severely beaten in a Moscow market last month.
Thousands of suspected illegal immigrants, mainly from Central Asia, have been arrested since late July.
Since then, about 600 of them, including children, have been held in a tent camp in Moscow.
Moscow human rights activists have been demanding the tent camp's closure, citing poor conditions there and calling them inhumane.
