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Black Thursday
Black Thursday
Part of the Lebanese Civil War
Native name	الخميس الأسود, Jeudi noir
Location	Bashoura, West Beirut
Date	May 30, 1975
Target	Lebanese Christians
Attack type	mass shooting
Deaths	30-50
Perpetrators	Muslim Militias (possibly Knights of Ali)

Black Thursday (Arabic: الخميس الأسود, French: Jeudi noir) was the massacre of between 30 and 50 Lebanese Christians in the area of Bashoura in West Beirut on May 30, 1975.^[1] This massacre was one of the first of the widespread sectarian-based abductions, mutilations and executions that followed the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War.

The massacre took place after the murder of a Palestinian man in downtown Beirut; officials estimate that between 30 and 50 Christian Lebanese civilians were summarily executed.^[2]

Aftermath and response

The bodies were abandoned in a Muslim cemetery, with possible intention of provoking a sectarian message, close to the Green Line separating East and West Beirut, all with their genitals mutilated.^[3]

Subsequently, the attack led gunmen, both leftist and right-wing militiamen, to block roads and streets in the areas under their respective authority, controlling traffic by only allowing people of certain sects to pass through. Many of the kidnapped victims (both Muslims and Christians) were executed, and those released were reported to have had parts of their bodies mutilated.^[3]

References

^ "Black Thursday". Civil Society Knowledge Centre. 2014-07-25. Archived from the original on 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
^ Le Mémorial de la Guerre, 30; and Meney, Même les Tueurs Ont une Mère, Paris: La Table Ronde, 1986, cited in de Clerck, Mémoires en Conflit dans le Liban d’Après-Guerre; and Johnson, All Honorable Men, 11.
^ ^a ^b "Lebanon's Legacy of Political Violence: A Mapping of Serious Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Lebanon, 1975–2008" (PDF). International Center for Transitional Justice. September 2013.