Here’s a look from the NYT at what can happen when a memorial to the dead becomes a showcase of the ruling class: People destroyed the memorial to the gassing of the Kurds.
So it came as a shock when hundreds of stone-throwing protesters took to the streets here Thursday on the anniversary, beating back government guards to storm and destroy a museum dedicated to the memory of the Halabja attack.
Let’s not repeat. Dangers like this are baked into stories of Silverstein and the Port Authority at the WTC site.
"All the money given by foreign countries has been stolen," said Sarwat Aziz, 24, as he marched to the museum in a crowd of furious, chanting young men. "After 18 years, Halabja is still full of debris from the war, we don’t even have decent roads."
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"That monument over there has become the main problem for Halabja,"
said Bakhtiar Ahmad, nodding at the museum, with its distinctive yellow
crown-shaped roof. "All the foreign guests are taken there, not to the
city."
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Many Kurds have grown angry at what they view as the corruption and tyranny of the two dominant political parties here.