1988 Iberville unrest |
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Date | 17-26 July 1988 |
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Location | |
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Neighbourhood militias Nationalist groups |
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11,000 police 12,400 various military 3,000 other law enforcement |
1,000+ militia |
"Thousands" of rioters |
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11 dead, 109 injured |
20 dead, 58 injured, 700+ arrested |
42 dead, 352 injured, 500+ arrested |
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The 1988 Iberville unrest occurred between 17 and 26 July 1988 after the assassination of Mohammad Faswa, the first Arab prime minister of Ainin, by white supremacist André Beaupoint on the steps of the Palace of the National Assembly of Ainin. It was by far the most violent of the reactions to the murder, and was triggered by mass demonstrations by Black and Muslim community groups in front of Iberville City Hall on the evening of the 17th. White supremacist counter-protesters clashed with the mourning crowd and a riot ensured. Over the next few days, riots largely led by minority groups paralysed the city and saw extensive damage done to Downtown Iberville. As the riots began to spread to the affluent white-dominated suburbs, local homeowners formed armed neighbourhood watch groups that clashed with rioters.
With police unable to control the situation and the city being brought to the brink of open conflict, President Jean-Marie Breton declared a state of emergency on 22 July and sent the Republican Guard to quell the unrest. The guardsmen were cheered by Blacks and Muslims as they entered the city and the rioters quickly dispersed, but the white militias mostly refused to disband, citing the Guard as a tool of the "Marxist government in Huimont" and engaging in firefights with guardsmen throughout the day. That evening, President Breton declared martial law and sent in the regular Army to suppress the militias. Over the next three days, soldiers and vehicles from the XIX Notasia Corps entered the troubled city and violently put down all resistance.
Background
Events
Analysis
According to historian Frédéric Daoust, the government's reaction to the 1988 unrest marked the beginning of the end for the Progressive Era of Aininian history. Just as the suppression of left-wing student groups in the 1968 events dealt a death blow to reactionarism as a major political force,