Stampede…Showdown of Sunni-Shiite Solidarity
BAGHDAD, September 1, 2005 – The tragic stampede that took the lives of almost a 1,000 Shiites Wednesday, has proved to be a crisis that was translated into a chance to highlight communal harmony in the occupied country.
While the huge loss of life made the dark side of the crisis, Sunnis rushed to help and leaders of both sects were quick to accept the fateful accident while blaming US-led occupation for the rise of sectarian divisions, making the bright side of the human tragedy.
Tens of Al-Aazamiya residents, Sunnis and Shiites, did not hesitate in jumping into the Tigris river to save hundreds of women and children, who fell off Al-Aaimmah (Imams) Bridge into the river following the stampede.
Residents of the predominantly-Sunni Aazamiya, which oversees the Tigris river, also used their boats to pick up hundreds of Shiite pilgrims from the river as they were fighting death roaming overhead.
More than 1,000 Iraqi Shiites were killed Wednesday in a stampede off a bridge over the Tigris river in Baghdad.
Thousands of people have attended funerals for some of the hundreds of Shia pilgrims killed in a stampede on a Baghdad bridge during a religious procession.
The mourning process took place on Thursday as criticism mounts against the Shia-led government for failing to prevent the tragedy.
The tragedy highlighted the risks of assembling such large crowds of people in one of the world's most dangerous and unstable countries.
"This is a result of the inadequate performance of the interior and defence ministers which has caused such a loss of life," said Baha al-Aaraji, a Shia lawmaker affiliated to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
"They should be made to stand in front of the National Assembly and be questioned. If it is proven that they have failed to fulfill their responsibilities, they should be dismissed and stand trial," he said.
However, Shia political parties encourage huge turnouts at religious festivals to display the majority sect's power in the new Iraq.
But the huge crowds overtax the ability of police and security services to protect them.
Many of the dead drowned after falling off the Al-Aaimmah bridge into the Tigris river in a surge of panic triggered by rumors that suicide bombers were in the crowd.
The stampede occurred when the crowd were marching to Al-Kadhimiya mosque in Baghdad's Al-Kadhimiya district to commemorate the death of the seventh imam, Musa Al-Kadhim, a revered religious figure among the Shiites.
Funeral tents were erected Thursday in the impoverished Baghdad Shiite suburb of Sadr City for funerals of the victims of the killer stamped.
Urging each others to help the affected Shiites, Al-Aazamiya residents also sped with their private cars to take the injured to Al-Noaman hospital for treatment.
Ambulances could not reach out to pick up the injured Shiites from the Aaimmah bridge where concrete barriers were put by Iraqi security forces as part of tightened security measures in the area.
Many Sunni and Shiite observers and officials put the blame largely with the occupation forces and Iraqi government for not doing enough to organize and secure such huge gatherings of people.
Abbas Al-Rabbi of the Martyr Sadr Office said the US occupation forces were unable to maintain order in the Shiite religious occasions due to their ignorance of the traditions of the Iraqi people.
Sheikh Harith Al-Dari, chairman of the Association of Muslim Scholars, the highest Sunni body in Iraq, said the positive side of the tragedy is that it showed the strong bonds among Iraqis of all religious sects and dealt a heavy blow to inciters and hate-mongers.
Hospitals were filled Wednesday with the sounds of screaming and wailing as disconsolate men and women searched for loved ones.
Television showed heart-rending images of women weeping over the bodies of their dead children in hospitals. Dozens of bodies were strewn across the floor.
To alleviate the burden on hospitals, people of Al-Aazamiya opened doors of their homes for the wounded, especially women and children, to offer immediate help.
Sunni mosques, such as the mosques of Abu Hanifa Al-Noaman and Beshr Al-Hafi, also opened doors to offer help to the injured and move them to hospitals.
"People of Al-Aazamiya helped tens of thousands of Shiite pilgrims who were passing by on their way to commemorate the death of imam Musa Al-Kadhim," said Mohamed Mahrous, a leading public figure in Aazamiya.
He denied the Shiite pilgrims had faced any harassment while passing in the area.
"On the contrary, the people of Al-Aazamiya used to show warming welcome to the Shiite pilgrims and offer them with food and water. That was the case Wednesday."
Political analysts and observers saw the great show of Shiite-Sunni solidarity Wednesday as a strong message the electoral battle to endorse a draft constitution, that highlights federalism, would be a heated one, arguing Sunnis and strong currents of the Shiite sect would be joining hands to give the chart the thumbs down.