Around 200 protesters gathered in the republic's largest city of Nazran to pay tribute to Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of a banned website, who was shot in the head while under police escort on Sunday. Yevloyev had been detained at an airport and was being taken to a police station for questioning when he was shot.
Police said the journalist was killed in a tragic accident when "one of the police officers' guns accidentally went off and a bullet hit Yevloyev in the head." Opposition members and human rights groups said they could not believe that version of events.
Investigators said that an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Yevloyev's death was being carried out.
The protesters demanded the resignation of Ingushetia's Kremlin-backed President Murat Zyazikov, who had been heavily criticized by Yevloyev on his U.S.-based website www.ingushetiya.ru.
Over 800 police officers fired warning shots and used batons to disperse the crowd. No one was immediately reported as being injured during the incident, a police source said.
Yevloyev's website was closed down earlier this year after being labeled extremist. Local authorities said that the site had called on people to take part in unauthorized demonstrations in January. Protests against the local administration were banned over public safety fears. The decision to close the website was approved by a Moscow court earlier in August.
