Video Study: Protesters Being Shot, Anywhere

September 22, 2011

I've been saying for a while that there are very few videos - at least three, and I doubt much more - of those peaceful Libyan protesters actually being shot back in February. I must first acknowledge I've run a bit ahead of myself there, and haven't really made an exhaustive study. I'm trying to do that now, but it's tedious. So far I'm finding nothing past the three that show apparent demonstrators visibly being downed.

If you're not familiar with the government's explanation, see the post "Massacring Protesters: Really?"  They'd say the videos either weren't made or weren't shared because they were getting themselves shot attacking army bases to steal weapons for violent war. And they wanted to be seen instead as peaceful protesters. And they were seen that way - they just weren't seen being shot hardly ever.

There were thousands of little iPhone-type cameras floating around, several filming most of the incidents we've seen, often from two or three of a dozen views captured (for example, this March protest against "mercenaries" in Benghazi). Most of these were able to get their footage to the world within 24 hours, somehow or other. And we heard that hundreds of innocent protesters were shot dead unprovoked, and hundreds others shot non-fatally. There should be (and might be) far more than the three cases I know of where we get to see the sudden transition from healthy to injured or dead.

Understandably, not all camera people are solid enough to keep filming when shots are being fired. Some will drop the thing, or turn it off and run, or keep it going and run away, showing us nothing but blurs. I'm sure it's not easy to film a killing or massacre within your own line of sight. But it's a pivotal moment to capture, the moral crux of the protesters' cries for foreign intervention. They told us all about it in the starkest and most alarming terms, but proved unable generally to actually and simply prove it with video. A single view, anything.

And it's not that they're required to, just that it'sreally odd how they cant when, if the picture they paint were true, the videos should, just naturally exist. Perhaps three doze, perhaps one dozen or even less.But three?

Below are some samples of videos that don't make the cut, the three I know of that do, and a space for any others that fit the required bill. I will keep looking, and invite submissions.I suspect in time the list will grow, but not by much. Prove me wrong!

No Good
No Good, Hospital footage
Libyan killed by Gaddafi forces in Tripoli- CAUTION VERY GRAPHIC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oomQqTpNbw
craino0 Feb 22, 2011
Several dead victims shown in still photos, some extremely dead, blasted apart in shocking ways most people don't need to see. All are fighting age males, one light-skinned black, the others Arab. Circumstances and even assailant are unclear, but it's been said they were killed by security forcesand/or "African mercenaries," using anti-aircraft guns against completely peaceful demonstrators. And there's plenty of "said" already, and not enough "shown."

A Message to Gaddafi from A Libyan injured protester at the hospital in Zawia, Libya Feb25th
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r81o9TEpOmw
Uploaded by molibya on Feb 25, 2011
Again, this tells us nothing except what someonesays about what happened -in alanguage I can only catch a few words in. It wastes the evidentiary value of video, putting it on a par with any credulous news report. It isn't even worth wasting a moment with, unless I could myself understand and evaluate his words and look into verifying them .... Plus, FWIW, actual video evidence shows Az Zawiyah "protesters" were in full armed combat mode (machine guns, RPGs, perhaps tanks) by mid-day of the 24th.

No Good, Shot Not Shown
This is a large and sometimes ambiguous category, encompassing most videos the average person would be tempted to retort with here. Unlike the above category, some of these are worthy of examination for direct secondary clues (location mostly), but none quite show what some of them should - people actually being shot.

Libyan citizen killed by a sniper Gaddafi in Libya.FLV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rul_2sMUamE

phinix89x, March 1

A man shot in the head in an alleyway, lots of blood around, a hole in the top of his head, slumped against another man's legs. There's a car and one other guy nearby. What could be a less clear sign of government repression?

Protesters in Libya shot and killed by Gaddafi Thugs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnDZE1-ceAI
ibntarabulus, February 17
An injured man, being carried. Blood is on his pants and coming from his nose. It's not even clear if he was shot, or punched, or what. No context shown, obviously, for if he deserved it. But being in the field instead of hospital, presumably near the site of injury, makes it worth more study (later, maybe). Where was he at? This kind of question proved useful in the following video:


Libya Protesters Shot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSZNHynLebo
Like the above, it doesn't show the shooting, but I covered it already anyway (see February 19's Death Toll in Benghazi). It shows two injured (one fatal, one unsure) only after the fact, next to a school in Benghazi, and coming from roughly the site of violent attacks on the Benghazi army barracks a few blocks away to the southwest. This not only fails to prove the rebel version, it actually supports the government version fairly well.

And for the second most ambiguous one yet, see the post "Video Study: Demonstrators Shot by Unseen Gunmen." The video from Benghazi, February 15, was first presented as showing anti-government protesters shot by the government. But prior to drastic editing, it had shown pro-government demonstrators, so it was thought by some they were shot by anti-government terrorists. But I think it shows no one shot at all. Read it to see if you agree or disagree, and feel free to comment.

No Good, Idiot
riots in libya protest 2011 protester/camera man killed while filming in libya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvZn9k5hnqs
Uploaded by onetv1channel on Feb 26, 2011
Then there's this video around of an unarmed cameraman killed by Gaddafi forces (in Misrata?) while filming them (watched it once, haven't studied it). Problem is, he wasn't filming protests near the army, but an armed gang stalking them, sneaking up behind them with rocket launchers, to kill them. He wasn't technically a combattant, but naturally when the forces opened fire to defend themselves in a moment of surprise, they might hit whoever they see instinctively. Really sad? Or just really stupid and unlucky? Perhaps both.

No Good, Not Protesters AND No One Shot
Protesters In Triploi Take Fire From Anti Aircraft Weaponry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE2lKMGoKqQ
Protesters in Triploi take AA fire? Not in this video. This shows hooligans burning buildings and cars at night. They might be armed, but not that I noticed. Someone's shooting a lot, sounds like, and yelling Allahu Akbar a lot, I'm not sure where and which side. The "protesters" do hide behind cars, perhaps as if avoiding bullets, but the only time they run is just after one guy finishes some unseen manual work next to a car. They run behind the wall and just then more "gunshots" are heard. A car nearby is on fire, and car alarms keep going off. IF anyof these hooligans had gotten shot by the police, I wouldn't call it justified, but not regime change material either.

No Good, Only Weapons Shown
Libya - Benghazi - Weapons of African mercenaries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnOzj6YDHUw
Posted by Benzebide, Feb 21
This shows some idiot holding up the fearsome weapons the protesters confiscated from an "African mercenary" in Benghazi. It's apparently the same weapon found on killed "mercenary" Hisham Mansour, and stuck mockingly into the crack of his naked butt in another famous video from, I believe, Benghazi, February 21. Problem is, at least according to a researcher who made a video to demonstrate it, the weapon is a special non-lethal gun used by riot control police around the world, including Libya's Internal Security forces, of which Mr. Mansour was a member. Oops. 

Good: Noncombatant People Getting Shot
By that I mean not that it's a good thing, but that it fits the criteria of being worth really examining. As I said above, I start with three videos so far. They're all from the same town, apparently the same day (February 17, as  I've been saying, or perhaps February 16), the same hour, and the same stretch of street. And further, two of them show the same exact shooting (total victims: 2). However this examination pans out, it cannot therefore do much to illustrate a top-down, nationwide order to kill protesters as was alleged - that would manifest in more than one city and more than one day.

1) Protests in Al Bayda East Libya on the 17th Feb facing live fire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2f2dA_zoYc
Posted by Libyanm, Jun 10 
This decent-resolution video, filmed from a rooftop, is dated on-screen Feb 17, day 3 of fighting. It shows a rowdy funeral procession approaching a police line. One of the protesters is shot down and then carried away, leaving a trail of blood.

2) "Qaddafi's men open fire on a funeral procession and kill mourners, Al BaiDa'"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmaI2FeYB9s
Posted by LibyanSolidarity, March 2
On-screen text has, in "Indian numbers," 17, suggesting again Feb 17. The day or the group? Dunno. It's from the same procession as above, again from a rooftop, a bit earlier and further from the police than the other. Again, one protester falls at the sound of a gunshot, this time hauled away in a truck that happened (?) to pull up just before the shooting. 

3) "VERY GRAPHIC_ BOY KILLED BY GADDAFI MEN IN BAYDA LIBYA"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqUHTsJBVqE
Posted by apologiiiize, Feb 20 
Description gives this as the date of the incident, but it's earlier - the police were all dead or gone by the 20th. This shows the same killing shown in video 1, from closer - ground level, just feet behind the young guy who was shot. It's abit disturbing to see - lots of blood,but no brains.

For in-depth analysis, including a video, of these three videos, see the post "Video Study: Al Baida Snipers" (fuller summary forthcoming here). The first and only time I see three videos of protester-type people being shot, I have a special case to make - several clues converge here suggesting a false-flag job by provocateur snipers, letting their work be naturally blamed on the government troops everyone could actually see. It's a solid case, if not quite proven. Skeptics, please have a look before dismissing this.

And alternately, this could be a genuine case of government troops opening fire on demonstrators. On one day, and in one of Libya's mid-tier cities. One was captured by two cameras. Where are the hundreds of victims from Benghazi, Tripoli, Misrata, az Zawiyah, etc. being shot down? Even one view of oneincident like this, that we can study?

Anything further I find or have submitted (comments below are a good place for this) will go in this list, starting with 4), if that ever is unearthed.