Nos Astra Protests Turn Violent - UPDATE

Nos Astra Protests Turn Violent
‘No Case’ Verdict Results In Rioting
Alarra Meviri, Illium Herald

Protests over the Scarletwood shooting have turned violent in Nos Astra, following the finding by a Justice Directorate board of inquiry that the officers involved had no case to answer for regarding their actions.

Olir Welus, a salarian civilian, was shot and killed outside Scarletwood maglev station by NAPD Task Force Redoubt personnel responding to a terrorist threat, but Directorate later admitted Olir’s innocence of any involvement with the reported threat. While a separate board of inquiry has yet to hand down findings on revisions to NAPD protocols as a result of the shooting, yesterday’s announcement cleared the three officers (referred to as S1, S2 and S3) directly responsible for the pursuit and interception of any wrongdoing, stating that “Officers S1, S2, and S3 acted in accordance with the NAPD’s duty to the citizens of Nos Astra with regard to the threat they properly believed the suspect posed at the time.”

Protests arose in a number of districts, as well as within the virtual legislatures of both Nos Astra and Illium as a whole, but these were overshadowed by evening when protesters in Cold Claw attacked NAPD infrastructure, damaging surveillance equipment and injuring several officers. Reinforcements met unexpected resistance from rioters, and at this stage a five-block radius had been cordoned off amid reports of damage to buildings and public spaces. Cold Claw’s residents are primarily batarian and human, with a high proportion of indentured workers, and sources have identified so-called ‘Reconciliation Activist’ Enark Maska, a former enforcer aligned with the Blue Suns mercenary group, as one of the key instigators of tonight’s unrest.

Using the authority granted by Justice Directorate’s declaration of Security Case Silver, peaceful protests elsewhere in the city have been dispersed, and citizens are advised to remain indoors. Justice Directorate has released a brief statement including the following: “We wish to reassure citizens that Nos Astra Police Department has the Cold Claw situation under control, and no danger is posed to lives or property outside the district. Cold Claw district will be pacified and offenders placed in custody as soon as an on-site review has been made to determine the best way to avoid collateral damage.”

UPDATE

NAPD units moving into Cold Claw early this morning have brought a halt to the outbreak of rioting and vandalism in the district. Dissident resistance crumbled quickly, although not before one looter attempted to ram an advancing pacification unit with a stolen skycar, damaging a number of crowd control mechs and injuring one officer, now in stable condition in Nos Varda Reserve Hospital. Numerous arrests have been made, but the alleged instigator of the riots Enark Maska was not among them, as Justice Directorate has posted a bounty for information on the former Blue Suns enforcer’s whereabouts.

'Protesters' attacked NAPD infrastructure', 'ex-Blue Suns Reconciliation Activist', and apes and blinks giving a fuck about a dead frog.

Why do I not believe a single word in this article?

A former blue suns on Illium. Please.

Now, see, I can buy that. If he's retired, then I figure there are worse places to go and kick back for the rest of your days than Illium.

It's the 'ex-Blue Suns guy giving a fuck about politics' part that I have a hard time buying. 'Reconciliation Activist?' Starting a bunch of shit with the cops in Nos Astra over a dead frog? Come on. I can only suspend my disbelief so much.

There is a Reconciliation movement - kind of a disorganised grab-bag of otherwise unaffiliated groups so far as I can recall, but the common factor is protesting against economic and social inequalities (we've got plenty to choose from). I don't recall this man's name being mentioned in the news before though.

Much as I hate to say it, this isn't really about the salarian victim (can we stop with "frog"?), or this specific instance of administration hand-washing (I suppose I really ought to be less optimistic about these sorts of things). Cold Claw is one of the... there's no other word but slum, really, and there's a lot of anger there at the Board, at anyone in authority, ever since the end of the war. Spark to the hydrogen... You can see all the lights from the aircraft, NAPD and so on. Hopefully nobody will overreact, there was a riot a few years pre-war at one of the old indentured complexes, and it got left to private security who sent mechs in. I'd like to think that won't happen again.

Mechs!? Then all the fuss about one single victim would fade fast. And yes, while the result of the investigation not unexpected, the riot seems not directly connected. But in the end, is it important over what incident such rioting ignites about?
The problem is that legitiamte claims may be completely overshadowed should some troublemakers use the explosive spirit for their own agenda.

ugh. I wake up and then this. At least it seems nobody had to die this time. Mechs... that's so brutal.

They closed a complete skyway because of several intersections over the area and getting to an from the Mulavey district is a bitch. I know, small problems in comparison but it's how you notice something is wrong.
Definitely the last thing this planet needs is a yellow-blue gang war!!!! The Eclipse are very reserved and quiet over this.

Wow.

He sucks at doing shit

heh heh heh

If "not sucking at being hit by a skycar" is a thing, then... maybe.

If you drive into a crowd and only hit one fucking person you're shit

Well, that's over with. I suppose it's too much to hope that this might prompt someone in or around the Board to think about why people in places like Cold Claw ever got than angry... At least nobody got killed, so far as reports have gone. Had my heart squeezing through my ribs when I heard 'they sent mechs in', but these new ones seem more fit for the job - more discriminating in when they randomly open fire, anyhow, which puts the one up on the old sort.

Thankfully (if that's the word) there aren't enough Suns left here for anything like that, just a few exes, and stragglers who were never more affiliated with Blue Suns than being hired guns to begin with. Maybe I'm letting optimism colour my view (again) but I'd guess Eclipse is smart enough not to rock the boat with the Board just to persecute a few also-rans.

Watch yourself on your commute though, okay? I don't like the mood around the city after this.

One person and several mechs, and I think that's the point of the mechs.