This year’s festivities to mark of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday — Mawlid Al-Nabi — on Friday evening and Saturday were marred . . .[restrict]by a record number of people being injured by fireworks and falling bullets. According to hospitals in Tripoli alone, 106 people, mostly children, had to be treated for injuries and burns in the two days prior to Mawlid. Some of the injuries were said to be severe.
This year’s celebrations were said to be the biggest for many years despite threats from Salafists opposed to the event. In the days running up to the Mawlid, Libya’s towns and cities reverberated to the sound of fireworks going off and intensive bursts of celebratory gunfire. The celebrations on Friday night were noticeably large-scale this year. [/restrict]
