The siege of Misrata

MISRATA, Libya — In the center of Misrata, a small girl clambers on top of an abandoned tank. It’s part of a makeshift exhibit in a public square of this battered, besieged city, one of many scattered throughout. Beside a row of tanks, spent bullet cartridges and blasted rocket cases are carefully placed alongside boots and ...

CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images
CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP/Getty Images

MISRATA, Libya — In the center of Misrata, a small girl clambers on top of an abandoned tank. It's part of a makeshift exhibit in a public square of this battered, besieged city, one of many scattered throughout. Beside a row of tanks, spent bullet cartridges and blasted rocket cases are carefully placed alongside boots and uniforms discarded by Muammar al-Qaddafi's fleeing soldiers, all arranged as neatly as fossils in a museum display cabinet.

MISRATA, Libya — In the center of Misrata, a small girl clambers on top of an abandoned tank. It’s part of a makeshift exhibit in a public square of this battered, besieged city, one of many scattered throughout. Beside a row of tanks, spent bullet cartridges and blasted rocket cases are carefully placed alongside boots and uniforms discarded by Muammar al-Qaddafi’s fleeing soldiers, all arranged as neatly as fossils in a museum display cabinet.

This is a city in shock. For two months, it was pulverized by troops loyal to the Libyan regime. Mortars destroyed civilian homes. Snipers took aim from towers. More than a thousand people died, according to the New York Times. Many more disappeared — or were taken — from their homes.

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Portia Walker is a British journalist covering the Middle East. She has written for the Economist, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, and The Washington Post.

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