Al-Šāṭi
Violence Bloodies Capital as Election Polls Tighten The Saheri Brotherhood for Peace’s mass protest in Al-Qādisiyyah’s Independence Circle against the ongoing Lalishi Separatist Conflict spiralled into chaos last night after fighting broke out between them and rival nationalist demonstrators from the Wolves of Dawn, killing 105 and injuring more than 1,000.
More than 60,000 Peace Brotherhood demonstrators, carrying pro-peace banners and placards, chanted for diplomatic solutions to the war which has ravaged the Adana State, which the Lalishi Liberation League claims as rightfully comprising an independent Lalishistan, throughout the day.
Meanwhile, nearly 30,000 marchers from the Wolves of Dawn occupied Aman-Kabir Memorial Plaza under police surveillance to stage a counter-demonstration against a diplomatic solution, beating drums, singing patriotic songs, and chanting in support of the governing National Rebirth Front and President Ashkan’s no-negotiation policy with separatists.
At 4:03pm, masked individuals broke from the main Wolves of Dawn demonstration and took control of an office building adjacent to the National Museum and Independence Circle, hurling bricks, masonry, bottles and a grenade down into the Peace Brotherhood marchers below. Demonstrators from both sides then clashed inside the building, while a fire also broke out, causing crowd stampedes.
Police riot squads and fire marshals were unable to quickly respond to the clash due to the size of the demonstrating crowds, contributing to the death toll and causing fire damage to numerous historic buildings, while sporadic free-for-all fighting broke out in streets between police and both demonstrating camps, leading to several stabbings and shootings throughout downtown Al-Qādisiyyah.
The Capital Police Constabulary has faced heavy criticism for its failure to control both marches, but the CPC Chief Commissioner, Hussein Muneeb Habir said that his forces had not been insufficiently equipped and not numerous enough to provide effective security to both events, which had gone ahead despite misgivings from his office.
LIVE ELECTION REPORT The riots have compounded the ongoing security crisis in Saheristan and sent shockwaves through the polls in advance of the election later this month, when President Ashkan hopes to win a second term and expand his legislative muscle against strong challenge for the Presidency from Faizal Abdel Vizar and his Liberal Democratic Party, which has been endorsed by the Saheri Brotherhood for Peace after Vizar pledged to prioritise peace talks with the Lalishi Separatists and suggested Lalishistan could be made an autonomous region within Saheristan and amnesty granted to separatist fighters.
Current polling averages put President Ashkan on 42% of the vote barely ahead of Representative Vizar on 40% in the polls, while low-ticket candidates Maria Oman Isa of the Socialist Left and Salman Yasser Fated of the Islamic People’s Party on 9% each. Were either Isa, Fated, or both to drop out of the race, polling could shift dramatically.
President Ashkan was previously expected to win a comfortable victory, but a surge in support for the charismatic Vizar, (who is especially popular with the young and the Lalishi minority) late in the election has surprised pollsters.