Markale

Last Saturday I walked down to Markale, our produce market, to pick up food for the weekend and was dumbfounded to find the usually bustling space absolutely empty. No vendors--not even the usual sidewalk hawkers. (And of course I did not have my camera; though I'm not sure how I would have taken a photo of nothing.)

At home we did a Google search and discovered Saturday was the anniverary of the first Markale massacre. On February 5, 1994, 144 people were wounded and 68 people were killed. At the produce market. Grocery shopping.

And what's worse, that was only the first Markale massacre. A year and a half later, on August 28, 1995 90 more were wounded and 37 more killed. Buying food for dinner.

I have been researching a few specific days during the Bosnian war for another project and as I read archived New York Times articles, I relive the confusion I felt seventeen years ago trying to sort out the claims of both sides of the war. In retrospect I wonder: how could it have been so confusing?

Markale, its usual busy self

Memorial wall in Markale