Tamorans answer the call of the Supreme Ayatollah
TINS news anchor
The days before Sunday
The call to protest made by the Supreme Ayatollah has influenced many in the Empire. It started with the Manist Temples explicitly mentioning Dilara Haghighi and the plight of Tamorans in Slava Lavosk in their regular daily services. The other major religions of Tamora soon followed: Islam, Anahitaism, Yazdânism and even Catholicism eventually started mentioning Dilara in their church services. As days passed, and regular daily protests began, Manist temples, following the command of the Supreme Ayatollah, started putting notices on their front doors shaming the heads of the families that had not allowed their wives and daughters to protest. Prestigious names of nobles and moguls appeared on the lists and they were quick to publicly apologize. Outside Djerb, the imperial capital, Manist parishes organized pilgrimages to Djerb to hear the sermon of the Supreme Ayatollah this Sunday. By Friday, there were no available rooms to book in Djerb whether in hotels, motels or even on sites like airbnb.
On social media, hashtags like #FreeDilara, #TamoranandProud, #IloveHijab were top trenders. Tamorans taking part in the protests posted pictures of them encouraging others to protest.
Spoiler: Tamorans protesting in the Imperial Enclave show Many women were seen at the protests, especially young ones whom deeply resonated with Dilari's plightOther high school students chose to "wear the flag"Nicknamed "Tamora's most secluded kingdom", Akkar had a presence at the protests But women were not alone in displaying the flagAnd of course the local police were present tooOne thing is clear, Tamorans were united in one voice During the week, many public figures had showed support for the protests. The four kings of Tamora each sent messages of support for the protests. Their wives, despite being of different faiths, were seen wearing the hijab as a sign of solidarity. The Queen of the federated kingdom of Attica sadly choose not to follow a similar gesture stating "that's not part of Attica's culture and customs" but has issued a statement in support of the protests.
During the week, various VIPs were seen at the protests, among them where the wives of the Emperor and his children. A rare occurrence since the Second and Third wife are rarely seen in public. The First wife,
Alya said" Like all faithful Manists, we answered the call of the Supreme Ayatollah. We are here to show our support for
Dilari, her family and all Tamorans in Slava".
Perhaps unexpectedly a message of support came from as far as way as Rokkenjima, with Mr.
Karapetyan, who had only so recently moved there, sending a message via Youtube:
"While my decision to turn my back on Tamora and choose Rokkenjima has not wavered, I find it impossible to pretend that I do not care what happens to Tamorans. I am familiar with Dilara's tragedy and that of her parents as we were still in Tamora when the incident took place. After going through a tragedy of my own which probably many of you know about it, I can say I understand what Dilara's parents are going through. To have a child trialed and sentenced to death as an adult is something that should cause outrage to all. I have written and personally delivered two letters protesting Dilara's arrest, trial and sentencing to death, one for Slava's embassy here at Rokkenjima and another at the government of Rokkenjima. I do not expect a reply anytime soon, what I do expect is to make it harder for them to ignore this. Me and my family continue to pray for Dilari and for the Tamorans that are now in Slava's detention camps."
Foreign help was not limited to messages of support, the Seleucid embassy in Djerb offered travel cards to Tamorans so they would be involved in protests, as well as
head scarves in the Tamoran flag for women in attendance. The king of the federated Kingdom of Western Seleucid and other officials thanked the embassy for their support proving once again the saying "a friend in need is a friend indeed" is true for the true great nations.
Spoiler: more Tamorans protesting with Selucid souvenirs show The head scarves provided by the Seleucid embassy proved very popular Tamora's most popular company shows its support in a powerful way
The federated Kingdom of Attica (ooc: one of the kingdoms of Tamora) was at the center of national news and beyond, as the soccer team owned by John Deere company, Ararat Patriots, put on a show for the fans in their home match against New Zion City FC in the Mundus Champions league.
The modest stadium, of 15,000, was packed full as Tamorans came to support their team. Many of them had the Tamaron flag on their clothing as well as banners with "Free Dilari" on display. The moment that made history however was when the Patriots, in the 85th minute of the game, scored against New Zion City FC. Once that happened, the captain of the team removed his shirt putting on display his "Free Dilari" undervest and then went as close as possible to the gallery, saluted the fans, put his hand over his heart (a gesture symbolizing pledging allegiance to the flag) and then encouraged the fans to shout "Free Dilari", the other players of his team quickly did the same, and each had undervets with similar messages. With such encouragement, the already excited crowd went wild, virtually all attendees stood up and chanted "Free Dilari" making hard for the game to continue. After several protests by the referee, the Tamoran team members eventually put their Tshirts on and resumed the match. The spectators however continued their chanting until the end of the match which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Patriots.
Spoiler: In the federated kingdom of Attica the flag proved just as popular show Sadly, Attica is not known for modest dressing...
... but the flag is still popular
and their support for Dilari was just as great as in other parts of the Empire
The whole stadium chanted "Free Dilari"The owners of team showed their support for the players' actions saying they "we take the name Patriots seriously, we wouldn't be Tamorans if had we acted any different" and adding that "whatever sanctions we'll get from the international Soccer Federation, it will be worth it." They also issued their own statement in relation to the detainment of Tamorans in Slava:
"John Deere (agricultural machinery) is a company that was founded by a farmer and has strong links to farming communities across Tamora. Over 80% of our customers live in towns of less than 20,000 inhabitants and the overwhelming majority of them value three things in life: family, God and country. By having Dilari undergo trail as an adult and
sentencing her to death for displaying the Tamoran flag, Slava Lavosk has managed to attack all the values our customers hold so dear. We urge President Kravec to respect due process, release all Tamorans currently in detention and return the assets that were unlawfully confiscated."
And Sunday comes...
Sunday saw a record number of protesters: over 4 million on the streets of Djerb alone, with another 20 million in the other (federated kingdoms) capitals and major cities. Estimates say that around half of those protesting in Djeb came from outside the city, with people coming in from all the federated kingdoms of Tamora. The count of Djerb and the local authorities did their best to handle the massive crowds. They suspended all non emergency traffic in the city with emergency services like ambulances relying on helicopters to transport patients. Public transport except for the underground was also suspended as Djeb became mostly a pedestrian city. Since some protests could not find accommodation in the city, some of them chose to sleep in streets. In order to avoid incidents, local law enforcements were instructed to temporary halt enforcing the vagrancy laws and allow people to sleep in public spaces. The local authorities did their best to protect the Slava Lavosk embassy during the week but on Sunday, in order to avoid any indents, they were replaced with soldiers from the Imperial army. Hundreds of soldiers established a perimeter around Slava's embassy in order to block protesters from getting to close to the embassy. Several helicopters were always in the air monitoring the situation. There have been no reported incidents of violence.
In the main square of Djeb, the Supreme Ayatollah gave the long awaited speech:
The Supreme Ayatollah
"Dear brothers and sisters. Last week I told you that I feel shame for the weak way we have reacted so far and that I deeply fear for our souls. Seeing the crowds gathered here today I can say I'm beginning to restore my faith in our community. Let's remember that today is not about us but for the Tamorans in Slava Lavosk. This is why I have invited today the mother of Dilari to tell us a couple of words. I cannot begin to tell you what she had to go through to get to us with the border being closed and the authorities constantly harassing Tamorans . While she will not be allowed by the Slavan authorities to go back, her husband chose to stay behind to fight for their daughter".
Dilari's mother went on stage and began addressing the crowd:
"We had a normal life in Slava. I was always careful to teach my daughter about our customs and religion, about the Prophet Mani and the commandments of our faith. My husband agreed with this. Dilari was always proud of her Tamoran heritage, she went to temple every week, prayed daily and always wore the hijab.
One night the authorities took her away... I still can't believe they sentenced her to death. My baby, what am i going to do?" the mother couldn't hold her back tears and started crying. The Supreme Ayatollah hugged her before resuming his speech to the protesters:
"You did everything you could do and even more. Now it's our turn as Manists and as Tamorans to help Dilari. I will not rest until your daughter is brought back safely to our Great Temple where we will pray together. To the President of Slava Lavosk I say this: release Dilari now, free all Tamorans from your detention camps and God may still spare you yet!"
We here at TINS also want to add our voice to that of the Supreme Ayatollah and call for President Kravec to release our brothers and sisters from the camps.
God bless the Emperor! God bless Tamora!