Citizen's Arrest

I am experiencing a new phenomenon in Moscow post the most recent bombing:  Random citizens are stopping me on the streets to ask where I am from.  After I answer them, these activist citizens become satisfied, smile, and tell me that I am OK.

Bouncers have also started to block me from entering some restaurants that I frequent, but I get a pass once the management gets involved.

My wife says that my street attire, a dark sports winter coat with black gloves and a tight-fitting skullcap, make me look like a hoodlum, hence explaining the recent stops.  I have pointed out to her that, by her standards, I have been dressing like a hoodlum for the length of our marriage, including the last year in Moscow.  The point is that the citizen's arrest activity is a new phenomenon in Moscow; but this phenomenon will soon pass once life regresses back to normal once again.

After the 29 March 2010 Moscow subway bombing, I was stopped three times.  All three occasions were by the "militia," or the federal police force, and always at the metro's entrance.  Those questionings also stopped as life regressed back to "normal."