Russia: Garlic picking around Sochi to be 'banned' during Olympics News from Elsewhere...

...as found by BBC Monitoring Published duration 27 January 2014

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Residents in several parts of Chechnya and Ingushetia have been banned from picking wild garlic during the Sochi Winter Olympics, it seems.

The story appeared on the jihadist website Kavkaz-Tsentr , and says the ban will be imposed by Russian security forces. "The infidels and apostates have not explained in what way picking wild garlic in the forests... could endanger the Sochi Olympics," it reports.

During several security operations held in recent years, people picking wild garlic in parts of the North Caucasus region of Russia have been killed or wounded after being mistaken for rebels.

Kavkaz-Tsentr quotes unnamed sources as saying the ban will run from 23 January to 23 March in parts of Chechnya and neighbouring Ingushetia.

A similar story appeared earlier this month on Kavkazskiy Uzel, a regional news website. Local residents told the site police had warned Salafi Muslims not to leave the town from 1 February until the end of the Winter Paralympics on 16 March. It also mentioned that there was "no official confirmation" of travel restrictions on local residents.