Stampede in Yemen at Ramadan charity event kills at least 78
NPR Online NewsNov 18, 2022
The Facts
On Wednesday, a stampede at a charity event in Yemen’s capital Sana’a killed at least 85 and left over 300 critically injured [with numbers in flux].
Videos shared on social media showed bodies piled up on the streets, bloodstains, shoes, and victims’ clothing scattered on the ground, and people screaming for help as emergency services tried to rescue survivors.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
The chaotic stampede — sadly coming just days before the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr — could have been avoided if the organizers had coordinated with local authorities about their plan to distribute aid to hundreds of people ahead of time. This latest tragedy simply highlights the suffering of the Yemeni people being exacerbated by US-Saudi aggression.
Pro-establishment narrative
It was ultimately Houthi gunfire that sparked the chaos, and only they can be blamed for this latest tragedy compounding Yemen's already extraordinary humanitarian crisis. This accident must, however, be viewed in its full geopolitical context, and shows why conflict resolution continues to be so challenging in this intractable conflict.