Pilgrimage to a Battleground
With suspicious eyes and doubtful voices, we were received by masked people at the gates of the famous ‘Turkish Cousin’ Building, now dubbed ‘Uhud Mount,’ towering above Tahrir Square in the heart of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. We were meant to film an exclusive report from inside the iconic site of the 2019 protests. Our guide, whose name was not known to us, was in his twenties like most of the protesters who had decided to occupy the building that was once used by security forces to target the demonstrators in the square. Our crew was treated with suspicion by the majority of the youths who acted in absolute loyalty to their leader. The building was their fortress and they feared any outsiders. They were concerned about information being leaked from within to the lurking security forces. “Who are you? How did you get in here? Stop filming right away,” said one of them angrily. I had already been warned by my fellow journalists not to react to any provocative words or acts by those inside. However, I turned a deaf eye to these warnings and replied in my Levantine accent: “We are here to tell your story; to carry your voice.” With those words I broke the ice with the angry young protesters. Later, we were offered some fruit and started our interview.
Pilgrimage to a Battleground FarahAlzaman Shawki | Al Jazeera Correspondent - Turkey
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