Hundreds Of Health Workers Participate In Mass ‘Die-In’ Demonstration In New York City

Hundreds of health professionals participated in a die-in demonstration a few blocks from the United Nations in New York City Thursday evening. Each health worker carried a card with information about an individual medical professional killed in the recent airstrikes in Syria.

Nearly 700 health workers have died since the Syrian civil war broke out more than four years ago. Dressed in white lab coats, demonstrators staged the die-in demonstration to protest and demand that the United Nations take the necessary steps to prohibit the targeting of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure.

The International Business Times covered the massive die-in protest and reported a comment made by Widney Brown, director of programs for Physicians for Human Rights, one of the organizations that planned the die-in demonstration.

“We’ve been concerned that with all the news coming out of Syria, almost all of it uniformly bad — the issue we focus on gets lost. When you kill one doctor, it’s not just the loss of that doctor, but it also impacts everyone who can’t get healthcare because there’s one less doctor.”

Since the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, more than 300 hospitals have been attacked, and at least eight hospitals were believed to have been targeted by Russian airstrikes.

Representatives from key international medical relief organizations, including Doctors Without Borders and the Syrian American Medical Society, spoke at the die-in event. A number of Syrian doctors who came to New York in hopes of raising awareness about how terrible conditions are with regard to medical care in Syria also spoke at the die-in demonstration.

Organizers and attendees of the die-in protest, including the Syrian American Medical Society and Physicians for Human Rights, hold the Syrian government and a Russian airstrike campaign responsible for intentionally targeting Syria’s healthcare facilities. They claim the Syrian government and Russia say the airstrikes are meant to weaken civil society in areas held by rebel opposition groups.

Russia has launched an aggressive campaign to help reinforce the Syrian government, and although government officials originally said they were targeting extremists, many of the Russian airstrikes have been focused on rebel groups, including some supported by Western governments.

Monitoring groups in Syria, including Human Rights Watch, have called for an investigation of Russian airstrikes, which they say have killed hundreds of civilians and may have violated international law.

The Independent reports the Defense Secretary has said Russian airstrikes in Syria may have killed “several hundred” civilians already and increased the risk of unintended altercations with Western forces.

Brown asked, “How much more evidence do you need of failure of compliance before you act?”

New York City nurse Kim Behrens explained why she decided to participate in the die-in demonstration, while referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“I support the rights of humans to exist and live. Bombing hospitals is pretty bold, even for a dictator.”

In an attempt to protect their hospitals, medical organizations have begun to build parts of their clinics underground, or have scattered the spacing of their facilities throughout cities to try to minimize damages. In addition, demonstrators asked the U.N. Security Council to enforce resolutions that prohibit the bombing of health facilities in Syria.

Many demonstrators expressed their disappointment in the lack of attention toward this pressing issue. Additionally, since the resolution was passed nearly two years ago, demonstrators are dissatisfied with the lack of progress being made in resolving this deadly concern.

Bronx native Angela Fiorentino said she just happened to be passing by as she saw hundreds of people laying on the ground.

“It was very powerful — that people so highly educated and devoted are this passionate.”

Angela, who works in the beauty industry, said she planned to go home and read more about the issue. She noted she looked for informational pamphlets from the die-in protest to take with her, adding she is also ready to discuss with her friends and customers the die-in demonstration and the appalling issue of medical professionals and civilians being killed in Syria.

[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]