Muslim pilgrims circled Islam’s holiest site in their traditional white robes, with a few additions — umbrellas and face masks — as the opening of the annual hajj was complicated by torrential rains and fears of swine flu.
Saudi authorities have been planning ways for months to inhibit the spread of swine flu during the pilgrimage, which is seen as an incubator for the virus. The four-day event, which started on Wednesday, is one of the most crowded in the world, with more than 3 million people from every corner of the globe packed shoulder to shoulder in prayers and rites.
Now they are scrambling to deal with sudden, unexpected downpours that could worsen one of the gathering’s perennial dangers: deadly stampedes.
In 2006, all it took was a dropped piece of luggage to trip up a crowd and cause a pileup that killed more than 360 people at one of the holy sites. The rains also could cause flash floods or mudslides in the desert mountains where most of the rites take place.
On Wednesday, the only fallout from the rains were epic traffic jams, flooded tents and washed out streets as the faithful tried to make their way to the Kaaba in Mecca. To kick off the hajj, Muslims circle seven times around the cube-shaped shrine draped in black cloth.
At times, crowds of men and women under umbrellas, some wearing surgical masks against the flu, circled in the courtyard of the mosque surrounding the shrine. But at other times during the day, the site was nearly empty, as were the surrounding streets, which would typically be jammed on the hajj’s opening day.
Many travelers were struggling just to get to the site. Floods closed down part of the main road to Mecca from the Red Sea coastal city of Jiddah — the entry point into the country for most of the faithful. As a result, cars were backed up as far as 30km, nearly half the length of the highway.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama sent greetings on Wednesday on behalf of the US to the pilgrims performing the hajj and to Muslims worldwide celebrating the Eid-ul-Adha holiday.
“The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major religions,” read a White House statement.
“On behalf of the American people, we would like to extend our greetings during this Hajj season — Eid Mubarak,” Obama said, using a traditional Muslim greeting.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS