Russian violence related to anime-inspired youth movement

(RT) ⸻ More than 350 young brawlers have been detained in Moscow over the past few days due to a wave of violence between groups of teenagers. The brawls, which broke out at malls, have been linked to the mysterious 'PMC Ryodan' youth movement, which is believed to have been inspired by Japanese anime and manga. The movement's name comes from a gang in the show 'Hunter x Hunter'. Most Ryodan members are underage and are reported to have 'bad blood' with football hooligans and oppose migrants and people from Russia's Muslim-majority Caucasus region. The first widely-reported fight broke out on February 19 at the Aviapark mall in northern Moscow, where several Ryodan members were involved in an argument with another group over chairs in a food court. The brawl was broken up by the police and the Moscow Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the matter. On Saturday, four young people attacked and pepper-sprayed a person wearing clothes with a spider logo in a Moscow subway station, according to local media reports. Similar incidents were later reported in the Russian capital and other major cities. Over 350 people, including 319 minors, were detained in Moscow on Saturday and Sunday, some of whom were armed with pepper spray, knives, and airsoft pistols. Most of the detainees have since been released, while the parents of 11 of them have been charged with "dereliction of parental duties." Officials in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, said a 17-year-old college student was arrested on suspicion of attacking a schoolboy in one of the malls. Social media has been flooded with videos of groups of young people fighting each other and making threats against 'spiders'. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was important to prevent unlawful activities, while Ekaterina Mizulina, a member of Russia's Civic Chamber, asked the judiciary to formally ban Ryodan. Mizulina wrote on her Telegram channel that phenomena like Ryodan become popular because young people "are left to themselves" and spend time online instead of having access to sport clubs and other activities.