USA: New York students hold a protest demanding rescue of the kidnapped Nigerian girls

Record ID: 214707

  • Title: USA: New York students hold a protest demanding rescue of the kidnapped Nigerian girls
  • Date: 28th May 2014
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 28, 2014) (REUTERS) STUDENTS FROM SHALHEVET HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS PROTESTING OUTSIDE THE NIGERIAN CONSULATE IN MANHATTAN, CHANTING 'BRING THEM HOME' STUDENTS HOLDING A BANNER READING 'BRING BACK OUR GIRLS!' WHILE CHANTING 'KIDS ARE NOT FOR SALE' STUDENTS CHANTING 'LET THE GIRLS DECIDE' PAN FROM THE NIGERIAN CONSULATE TO THE GAT
  • Embargoed: 12th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAZWXCN51ZNEK0JF13D2215N05
  • Story Text: With raised voices and bright banners, a group of over 80 students from a girls high school rallied outside the Nigerian Consulate in New York on Wednesday (May 28), calling on the Nigerian government to do more to rescue the more than 200 girls kidnapped by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
    The girls were kidnapped from a secondary school in Chibok in remote northeastern Nigeria on April 14th and Boko Haram has threatened to sell them into slavery. Eight other girls were taken from another village earlier this month.
    The protesting students were from Shalhevet High School for Girls, a private high school on Long Island, New York. They were joined by a few other independent protesters who shared their sentiment that more effort needs to be put into rescuing the kidnapped girls.
    The protesters chanted 'Kids Are Not For Sale' and 'Let The Girls Decide' while holding banners with slogans such as 'Bring Back Our Girls!" The Long Island students said they especially empathized with the plight of the Nigerian students because both groups comprise young girls, even though they live on different continents.
    16-year-old Rikki Vatch, a 10th grade student, was instrumental in organizing the protest. Her main concern was that it had been more than a month since the kidnapping, but little had been done to rescue the kidnapped girls.

    "We realized that it happened a little over a month ago and that not much has been done about it. And we realized that it's just horrible, we're all horrified by it and we figure that we have to take action. Even though we're a small school, not much might be done, but we can make a difference, and that's what we believe and so we decided to come out and rally," Vatch said.
    Elana Goldsmith, a 11th grade student, said, "Especially all of us, since we're a girls school, like it hit us really hard and we believe that education should be available to everyone and it's just very wrong and the Nigerian government isn't doing enough to bring the girls back. And the girls have just to be brought back as soon as possible."
    Bruce Blakeman is a candidate for Congress from a Long Island district. He joined the high school students in chanting 'Dry their tears'.

    "I'm here to say -- we haven't done enough. There's a lot more that we have to do. I'm here in solidarity with the girls who I think are wonderful for doing this. And they really feel for the girls in Nigeria that are being held captured and kidnapped. So we're here to show our support and ask the Nigerian government and our own government to do more," Blakeman said.
    Another student, Noa Eliech, felt that more pressure needs to be put on authorities such as the U.N. to save the Nigerian girls.
    The U.N. Security Council committee on al Qaeda sanctions did blacklist Boko Haram earlier this month for the kidnapping. The U.N. listing entry describes Boko Haram as an affiliate of al Qaeda and the Organization of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
    Boko Haram's five-year-old insurgency is aimed at reviving a medieval Islamic caliphate in modern Nigeria, whose 170 million people are split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims. The group is becoming, by far, the biggest security threat to Africa's top oil producer.
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