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By Dmitry Solovyov

MOSCOW, June 5 (Reuters) - Hundreds of locals rallied in the town of Stavropol in southern Russia on Tuesday, demanding the eviction of ethnic Chechens, witnesses and media said, reviving memories of racial riots in other parts of the country.

Thousands of people gathered earlier on Tuesday at the funerals of two young Russians knifed by unknown attackers on Sunday in this leafy town of some 350,000 residents, 1,700 km (1,060 miles) south of Moscow and bordering volatile Chechnya.

Many people in the town, populated mainly by Slavs, believe Chechens killed the two Russians in revenge for the murder of a Chechen man on May 24 in clashes between local Chechens and Russians.

Hundreds of people gathered in Stavropol's main square, responding to calls in leaflets "to hold a Slav gathering".

Minor scuffles with police erupted, Interfax news agency and Internet newspaper www.gazeta.ru reported. Police attempted to detain groups of protesters who ransacked a local cafe, independent radio Ekho Moskvy said.

Neither central police in Moscow or local police could be reached for comment.

"The situation is really tense. Police forces are swarming in the streets, and the town is practically blocked," a local television editor told Reuters by telephone from Stavropol.

She said at least 1,000 people had taken part in the rally, and hundreds were still seen grouping in a nearby park.

NEW KONDOPOGA?

"We are pretty much inclined to believe Chechens killed those Russians, although police want to present this as if Russians killed Russians," Yuri Berezin, a Russian nationalist activist who took part in the rally, told Reuters from Stavropol.

Stavropol's events revive memories of violent clashes between locals and Caucasus-born traders in the town of Kondopoga in northwestern Russia in September.

Trouble started in Kondopoga, a town of 40,000 people in the province of Karelia on the Finnish border, after a bar fight over an unpaid bill between locals and Chechens in late August. Two Russians were killed.

Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev, visiting Chechnya's restive North Caucasus province of Dagestan, told Russian agencies the situation in Stavropol was nothing out of the ordinary.

"The situation is under control and it won't be developing according to the Kondopoga scenario." (Additional reporting by Nikolai Pavlov)

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