User:Pagrit/sandbox

Reactions and immediate action by Saudi government
Despite criticism of the Saudi government from the relatives of the stampede's casualties (do you have a reference for this? Becky) (reference added - Pagrit), Saudi officials put the blame on unruly pilgrims for causing the stampede and denied that authorities could have done more to stop the stampede with the Saudi interior ministry spokesman at the time, Maj Gen Mansour al-Turki, telling the BBC's Newshour programme that the dangers would only increase if crowd controls were tightened further.

"People insist that they want to finish their Hajj in the way they think is right and you have a limited effect in using policemen to control people in this regard," he said.

"You cannot really control them by force because if you do probably you will increase the problem because you will have people pushing you. We had so many police officers today who were injured in this situation."

Seventy ambulances were used by the Saudi Officials to rush the victims to seven hospitals in Mina and nearby Arafat.

After the casualties had been removed, the Saudi government used bulldozers to clear the area so the ceremony could continue. '[Do you have a reference for this? (Becky)] (reference added - Pagrit)'

As a long term measure, the Saudi government had redesigned and reconstructed the Jamarat Bridge, the spot where the stampede occurred, to accommodate more people and to allow better crowd management. The project was budgeted at $1bn (£568m) over the next three years. When completed, the new bridge will have four floors with 12 entrances and 12 exits. There will be three tunnels for more than two million pilgrims to pass through along with advance warning system to prevent overcrowding. The Saudi government also made adjustments to future ritual by making clear appeals to pilgrims to throw their stones at any time of day, rather than only in the afternoon and limit the number of Saudis and residents in the country taking part in the ritual by the enforcement of hajj permits. (I think we need to co-ordinate where this bit about the bridge goes :), Becky) (Remove as it will be redundant with Becky - Pagrit)


 * Thanks Pagrit - this is nice. I've made a few suggestions in bold.
 * About 80 words over the word limit - can you reduce a bit? (Becky)

Katie - Comment:


 * Great piece Pagrit! I particularly like the quotes!
 * I see you've already added Becky's suggestions, it runs smoothly and to the point :)
 * Now that you've removed the bridge section, I believe your wordcount is about right?