General Discussion

muriel_volestrangler

(106,605 posts) Thu May 21, 2026, 06:14 PM 5 hrs ago

Angry crowd sets Ebola hospital tents on fire in DR Congo

This is MAGA-level stupidity.

An angry crowd set alight a section of a hospital at the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after family and friends of a young man thought to have died from the virus were prevented from taking his body away for burial.

"They started throwing projectiles at the hospital. They even set fire to tents that were being used as isolation wards," local politician Luc Malembe Malembe told the BBC about the scene he witnessed at Rwampara General Hospital.
...
The body of a dead Ebola victim is highly infectious and the authorities need to ensure safe burial to stop the spread of the virus.
...
Malembe said the crowd did not believe the virus, which has so far killed more than 130 in eastern DR Congo, was real.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8p2g8yp8do

14 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Angry crowd sets Ebola hospital tents on fire in DR Congo (Original Post) muriel_volestrangler 5 hrs ago OP

FAFO ... with deadly consequences. QueerDuck 5 hrs ago #1

religious garbage Skittles 3 hrs ago #11

Did not believe the virus, which has so far killed... was real. Gee, sounds familiar. hlthe2b 5 hrs ago #2

Essential Words by hlthe2b Most Worthy of Repetition ahnakneemoose 4 hrs ago #5

Map of where it is in --and it is spreading...Two cases of the virus have been detected in DR Congo's neighbour, Uganda. riversedge 5 hrs ago #3

They should wear maga hats. And make a statue of RFK Jr. Dave Bowman 5 hrs ago #4

It's like a horror film. Baitball Blogger 4 hrs ago #6

If the ebola outbreak goes world wide the gutting of.. yourout 4 hrs ago #7

the "pro-life Christian" party strikes again Skittles 4 hrs ago #9

The crowd must be listening to RFK Jr mdbl 4 hrs ago #8

No, it's unfortunately a religious practice conflict. haele 4 hrs ago #10

Sure sounds like a big risk. LisaL 1 hr ago #14

MAGA has an African cousin. Gore1FL 2 hrs ago #12

There are gullible people everywhere GenThePerservering 1 hr ago #13

QueerDuck

(1,947 posts)

1. FAFO ... with deadly consequences.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Thu May 21, 2026, 06:17 PM

5 hrs ago

Skittles

(172,911 posts)

11. religious garbage

Reply to QueerDuck (Reply #1)

Thu May 21, 2026, 08:26 PM

3 hrs ago

ugh

hlthe2b

(114,716 posts)

2. Did not believe the virus, which has so far killed... was real. Gee, sounds familiar.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Thu May 21, 2026, 06:17 PM

5 hrs ago

A glimpse into the behavior of MAGA and a few others if extremely stringent public health requirements are ever necessary again for an infectious agent in this country. Sigh... Darwin was right, but he didn't tell us how to deal with those whose ignorance would kill the rest of us.

ahnakneemoose

(50 posts)

5. Essential Words by hlthe2b Most Worthy of Repetition

Reply to hlthe2b (Reply #2)

Thu May 21, 2026, 06:39 PM

4 hrs ago

Sigh...
Darwin was right
But he didn't tell us how to deal with
Those whose ignorance would kill the rest of us

riversedge

(81,565 posts)

3. Map of where it is in --and it is spreading...Two cases of the virus have been detected in DR Congo's neighbour, Uganda.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Thu May 21, 2026, 06:33 PM

5 hrs ago

.webp

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8p2g8yp8do

Dave Bowman

(7,466 posts)

4. They should wear maga hats. And make a statue of RFK Jr.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Thu May 21, 2026, 06:33 PM

5 hrs ago

Baitball Blogger

(52,729 posts)

6. It's like a horror film.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Thu May 21, 2026, 06:51 PM

4 hrs ago

yourout

(8,880 posts)

7. If the ebola outbreak goes world wide the gutting of..

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Thu May 21, 2026, 06:55 PM

4 hrs ago

USAID will be a factor
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/21/ebola-outbreak-public-health

Skittles

(172,911 posts)

9. the "pro-life Christian" party strikes again

Reply to yourout (Reply #7)

Thu May 21, 2026, 07:22 PM

4 hrs ago

mdbl

(8,761 posts)

8. The crowd must be listening to RFK Jr

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Thu May 21, 2026, 07:18 PM

4 hrs ago

haele

(15,602 posts)

10. No, it's unfortunately a religious practice conflict.

Reply to mdbl (Reply #8)

Thu May 21, 2026, 07:30 PM

4 hrs ago

Some sects of various offshoots of the major religions and some tribal religions believe the body of the recently deceased is required to go through certain rituals or be collected for burial immediately or the family or community risks hauntings, curses, attracting bad spirits (other than the deceased) or general bad luck.
They consider it equally important that the body be handled properly as it is to keep a disease from rampaging through the community.
And you can't really convince them otherwise. Especially if they don't want to believe it's Ebola.

On edit - it seems the young man was a popular footballer who played on several regional teams for the national league.
The DRC National Football team is planning on participating in the World Cup. That's a significant risk.

LisaL

(47,514 posts)

14. Sure sounds like a big risk.

Reply to haele (Reply #10)

Thu May 21, 2026, 10:23 PM

1 hr ago

To spread it far and wide.

Gore1FL

(22,983 posts)

12. MAGA has an African cousin.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Thu May 21, 2026, 08:35 PM

2 hrs ago

I wonder if they brought ivermectin.

GenThePerservering

(3,719 posts)

13. There are gullible people everywhere

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Original post)

Thu May 21, 2026, 10:17 PM

1 hr ago

seduced by religion.

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