USA: TEXAS: 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF MASS SUICIDE BY WACO CULT скачать в хорошем качестве

USA: TEXAS: 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF MASS SUICIDE BY WACO CULT

(18 Apr 1998) English/Nat Five years ago this Sunday, eighty people died when members of the "Branch Davidian" cult set fire to their complex in Waco, Texas. The fire followed a raid by U-S government agents - cult leader David Koresh and many of his followers subsequently died. The incident became a rallying point for extremists and anti-government groups. This was the end of a standoff at the "Branch Davidian" compound on April 19, 1993. Pictures of flames sweeping through the building full of people is a painful memory for many inside and outside the compound. Eighty people, 18 of them children, and cult leader David Koresh died in the flames. The siege had begun weeks earlier when 4 federal agents and 6 cult members were killed in a gun battle. The shooting broke out when agents tried to arrest Koresh on weapons charges. After just over 50 days of futile talks, agents sent in armoured vehicles to flush out the cult members with tear gas. But the compound erupted in fire. It's still a matter of speculation how the fire started. Government officials say the cult members started the fire themselves, but surviving members claim otherwise. It's been five years since the raid but the memories have not faded for the survivors and cult members. Many of them still live in Waco and retain the rights to the property. Most of the rubble is gone with the exception of a few relics. Victims' graves are dotted around the land. Sheila Martin, a survivor lost her husband and daughter on that day. She defends Koresh and criticises the government's actions from the day the standoff began. SOUNDBITE: (English) "I think it was the time that God allowed it to happen because of the different circumstances that led up to it. And as we stayed inside David said the more the government comes and they show the world what they are made out of. People had a chance to say well this is not a group of people that are against the government and are fighting and have started something. But in spite of all they were told, they were shown that the government was the one who's bothering us. They came in, they were tearing up everything. They were shooting on children that were inside, they didn't know where they were. And this morning as I thought of it, I said these were little babies. They said they came to get a man, and these were little babies in there." SUPER CAPTION: Sheila Martin, survivor According to an expert on terrorism and cults, the incident at Waco can be seen as a rallying point for extremists and anti-government groups. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Well I think that Waco is used primarily by the anti-government right today. It really energised them. And they used that to recruit members and to point at government maleficence" SUPER CAPTION: Dr Neil Livingstone, Cult and Terrorism Expert and Author On the other hand, "Branch Davidian" members like Martin disagree with tactics of death and destruction used by militias. SOUNDBITE: (English) "And so we don't want the militias to feel that, well to see that, this is a situation that just goes to prove what the government is like. They go right in there and do these things. And we're thankful that they say that they hate what happened to us. But we would not want them to feel that, like something like with Timothy McVeigh, we would never want any other children to die. We know the pain, we know what happened here and why would we want something else, and we would not encourage anyone else to get into that position." SUPER CAPTION: Sheila Martin, Survivors SOUNDBITE: (English) SOUNDBITE: (English) Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...