Xarabos, Atrissian Tzara (Occupied by the Losavral People’s Front)
The LPF had always claimed to be for the people.
Vakrê could beg to differ.
The Atrissians had dominated Atrissian Tzara ever since it was conquered during the War of the Two Coalitions. The Ikaranareans had incorperated their portion of Tzara into Narus, but they had let the Tzarans keep their unique regional culture, especially after the Great War.
The Atrissians were not so kind. Ironically, they were one of the founders of Losavra- the “Land of many-” but throughout their history since Losavra’s founding, they had oppressed other groups. Their oppression of the will of the Akon Islanders kicked off a border-war between the remaining Triangular Empire and free Losavra, and for the lucky Akon Islanders, the Triangular Empire took the island back. The Tzarans were not so lucky.
The LPF had formed as an organization to push socialist and communist ideas onto the people- eventually, by force. The Tzarans, who had fundamental disagreements with the idea of a command economy and many other aspects of the ideology, were not receptive. As many Atrissians flocked to the ideology, they started calling the Tzarans foolish, saying that what was being done was being done for their own good. There was violence against the Tzarans, and many quietly stayed in their homes, afraid for persecution for speaking out against the LPF.
Now, it was going too far.
For every Tzaran, it was clear as night and day why the LPF had launched attacks into Ikaranara. The day the Atrissian government broke off from the central Losavral government at the bidding of the LPF, thousands of Tzarans had started moving west to cross the border into Ikaranara. The LPF in Atrissia knew they could not defeat Ikaranara head-on- so, they launched a barage of missiles to force Ikaranara to close the border for the first time since 1965. It sent a clear message. Nobody was leaving.
Vakrê could not stand for this, so she had been at the head of organizing a large protest of over 4,000 who would march near the headquarters of the LPF and demand that they cease attacks into Ikaranara long enough for refugees to leave the area. It had been carefully planned to avoid weapons and violence. They were hoping that if the Atrissians were not able to work with them, they would at least let them leave.
They should not have been surprised when bullets started raining down on them.