Their aim plainly was not to kill the peaceful protestors but to capture or kill militants who demonstrated a willingness to kill in cold blood. The civilians who were killed were caught up in that crossfire.
Let’s assume you are right that soldiers never purposefully shot civilians as their main goal. Unless you are claiming that these “militants” were fighting with their own guns, I don’t see how firing blindly into groups of protestors with firearms is that much better?
But I don’t believe that violence against the protestors was never part of the plan. Just like in the US I would never put it past the government to use violence, “accidental” or otherwise, as part of a scenario to suppress a large-scale protest movement.
The militants among the protestors did have petrol bombs and they took guns from at least one flamed-out APC, and the soldiers didn’t know what else they had. Beyond that, the soldiers still weren’t firing blindly into groups of protestors, read the links I posted, even just the brief report from the Latin American diplomat.
Let’s assume you are right that soldiers never purposefully shot civilians as their main goal. Unless you are claiming that these “militants” were fighting with their own guns, I don’t see how firing blindly into groups of protestors with firearms is that much better?
But I don’t believe that violence against the protestors was never part of the plan. Just like in the US I would never put it past the government to use violence, “accidental” or otherwise, as part of a scenario to suppress a large-scale protest movement.
The militants among the protestors did have petrol bombs and they took guns from at least one flamed-out APC, and the soldiers didn’t know what else they had. Beyond that, the soldiers still weren’t firing blindly into groups of protestors, read the links I posted, even just the brief report from the Latin American diplomat.