Khrystalpol Incident: Difference between revisions
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The raid took place in the town of Khrystalpol, a mining town formerly part of the People's Martovist Republic of Vakaria, [[Vakarastan]], south of Nov Martovgrad that later hosted a sizable Vakari airbase. This military presence made the town an important target during the conflict. Khrystalpol Airbase was bombed repeatedly in the early stages of the war, and on one occasion an errant missile strike landed in the town centre, destroying a civic centre-turned refugee shelter and killing 73 civilians in what became known as the "Green Fury", due to accusations from the town that the missile was an intentional strike by [[Tretrid]].
During the [[Nov Martovgrad Offensive]], Khrystalpol was occupied after heavy fighting, with civilian militia defending the town until being forced to surrender on the 3rd of August. Along with the rest of Vakaristan, the town was eventually annexed into Durakia as a part of the Northwestern Irnac subdivision. Though the town was rebuilt under the Vakari Reconstruction Program, it remained a
===The Khrystalpol Sleeping Sickness ===
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Confrontations began almost immediately at the gates of K-17. Durakan security personnel had been caught off guard at the speed of the escalation, and the previous day's attendees had effectively lost all control over the situation. Multiple gunshots were heard, and Durakan officers later testified that they had been fired upon by the Vorosijm fighters from within the crowd, though it remains unknown as to which members of the group began the violence. Whatever the case, the exchange of fire killed one Durakan military policeman who had been standing guard at the gate, and sent the crowd into a panic. The mob surged forward.
Perimeter security at K-17 was later deemed deficient due to an overreliance on existing Vakari-built structures, which were poorly made and laid out. The weight of the frenzied crowd was such that multiple sections of the fence simply collapsed, and no further obstacles were present to prevent the mob from bursting into the outer sections of the base and potentially overwhelming the facility. Sporadic gunfire continued to target Durakan personnel and drove the crowd onwards.
The situation at K-17 had, remarkably, calmed down by the time these reinforcements arrived. After the initial panic faded, many of the rioters had either fled or were found simply wandering aimlessly. Some had taken to smashing or looting the handful of aircraft on the tarmac, and a group of Durakan mechanics was reportedly forced to seek shelter in the control tower with other staff. Vorosijm fighters were likely among those who entered the base, as shots were repeatedly fired into the central compound, though fortunately nobody was hit. Durakan security also repeatedly fired upon or forced back groups of rioters who approached the portions of the base still under their control. The overall situation at K-17 was difficult to determine however, as the Vakari military had never installed security cameras or other
The arrival of Durakan airborne units proved sufficient to secure K-17 over the remainder of the day. Hundreds of Vakari were detained and some one hundred-and-fifty had been injured due to the intense violence of that morning. The Vorosijm had fled back out into the countryside after their inability to breach the stronger perimeter around the central compound. A massive manhunt ensued around the base starting that evening, but yielded no results until the following day.
====November 18====
Widespread efforts to secure the area continued into the following day, with Durakan military and law enforcement personnel called in from around the occupation zone to deploy into the town and surrounding countryside. The sheer number of detained Vakari was sufficient to overwhelm local detention facilities and required the establishment of an ad hoc camp outside K-17 for processing. The highest priority for Durakan efforts remained the apprehension of the Vorosijm however, particularly as the authorities remained uncertain as to the actual size and capabilities of the group. Lingering fears that the Khrystalpol Incident was the beginning of a larger Vakari uprising led to a general alert across the occupied country. Proposals were put forth by Durakan commanders for harsher measures such as the nationwide reimposition of curfews, travel restrictions, and bans on gatherings, but these were ultimately not enacted outside of the Khrystalpol area.
On the evening of November 18, Durakan search teams received an anonymous tipoff that a group of armed men had taken over the administrative annex of the Khrystalpol Ironworks, an abandoned pre-war industrial complex several miles from the town. Law enforcement personnel had already been en route to examine the site, but were now ordered not to approach the complex. A military special operations group was dispatched instead to deal with the militiamen. While few details surrounding the subsequent firefight have been made public, the Durakan military later reported that all five Vorosijm members had been killed in the shootout with no casualties among Durakan servicemembers.
==Aftermath==
Security around Khrystalpol remained high following the clash at the Ironworks. On November 19, the occupying authorities announced that K-17 was once again secure, but would continue to host an enlarged military presence. Despite fears of wider violence either in the town or across the country, the situation remained largely stable. Durakan authorities announced that they would begin releasing some detainees over the course of the coming week, while those charged with more serious offenses were to be moved to more permanent facilities to await trial.
Durakan agents monitoring the #MartovLives channel observed a marked increase in calls for action by the chatroom's moderators. These calls were echoed by other members in the channel, but evidence suggested that these accounts likely belonged to the same moderators they were responding to. In one example, several users claimed to be Khrystalpol residents organizing a rally in honor of the Vorosijm, something that was almost certainly false given that the only available computers in Khrystalpol's library had been seized as part of the ongoing investigation. More broadly, the channel responded with either apathy or disdain towards calls for further action, as many were instead mourning the loss of life or fearing further violence, while the most radical members from Khrystalpol were either dead or unable to access the chatroom. Activity in the channel declined over the following days, and the moderation team was not seen online again after November 26. The identities and precise origin of the chatroom's owners remains a source of ongoing investigation, and though the moderators were at varying times recorded as claiming affiliation with the Vakari government in exile or miscellaneous Vakari resistance or citizen's groups, none of these organizations have claimed any connection to the infamous chatroom and many of the identities provided were later determined to be wholly fictitious.
<nowiki>#</nowiki>MartovLives was run on Melkhii, a popular Älemsi-based IRC client which also maintained the servers used by the channel. Several days after the incident, Melkhii released a statement saying that it "Unequivocally condemns utilizing our services to promote acts of violence, and will cooperate to the extent required by the laws of the Negdel and the Amrakh Autonomy."
<nowiki>#</nowiki>MartovLives has been accused of engaging in "Stochastic terrorism" and a "Complete disregard for Vakari and Durakan lives" by the authorities. The channel has since wholly ceased to exist.
The decisions made by various Durakan personnel and officials in the leadup to and during the Incident have been heavily scrutinized. Sources of particular controversy include the decision to fire live rounds against the crowd, as well as failures in security that allowed the situation to escalate so unexpectedly. These hearings have persisted alongside the ongoing trials of many rioters.
K-17 remained an important site for the Revolutionary Air Corps, even though Rekelta opted to move its program to more secure locations. In 2022, funding was allocated to rebuild and secure the base to Durakan specifications.
Khrystalpol remained a source for discontent against the occupation, even though no significant violence occurred following the Incident. The resolution of the Sleeping Sickness mystery proved instrumental in easing tensions, but a mixture of economic dilapidation, spilled blood, and lingering conspiracy theories have left it consistently polling as one of the most discontented parts of Vakarastan.
=== International Reactions ===
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