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STORY: NEW YORK / SYRIA FLASH MOB
TRT: 2.37
SOURCE: UNTV /UNRWA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS
DATELINE: 20 MARCH 2014, NEW YORK CITY - FILE
20 MARCH 2014, NEW YORK CITY
1. Various shots, Time Square
UNRWA - 24 – 30 FEBRUARY 2014, YARMOUK, CAMP, DAMASCUS SYRIA
2. Photograph of of Palestinians lining up for food aid
3. Various shots, food distribution
20 MARCH 2014, NEW YORK CITY
4. Med shot, cars passing
5. Med shot, pedestrians
6. Close up, woman with #LetUsThrough written on her face
7. Med shot, three men holding pita bread
8. Close up, writing on a woman’s face
9. Close up, woman with #LetUsThrough written on her face
10. Med shot, crowd clapping
11. Wide shot, Reuters screen with Yarmouk image
12. Wide shot, people holding up pita bread
13. Various close ups of people with pita bread
14. SOUNDBITE (English), Bassam Faraj from Syria:
“You will get there eventually sooner or later, just stand by, we are with you and the whole world is going to be with you soon.”
15. Close up, Luescher
16. Med shot, crowd
17. SOUNDBITE: Bettina Luescher, Spokesperson WFP:
““I came here for the solidarity for Syrian/Palestinian People…We are with you and you will get there eventually sooner or later, just stand by, we are with you and the whole world is going to be with you soon.”
17. Various shots, crowd holding pita bread
18. SOUNDBITE (English), Hamid Imam, Syrian-American:
“There’s no communication, there’s no internet connections, there’s no phone line connections, so the news that I get about them are barely minimum. It feels helpless, I’m still optimistic that hopefully the people will see a light at the end of this tunnel.”
19. Med shot, Yarmouk image on Reuters screen
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA) have chosen the iconic Time Square in New York City to celebrate the moment when UNRWA-led and celebrity-backed social media campaign reached almost double its target of 23 million, same as the pre-war population of Syria.
The photograph of crowds of Palestinians lining up for food aid in war-torn Yarmouk camp in Damascus went viral on the internet and was reproduced in the print editions of over a thousand newspapers worldwide.
The image was taken when UNRWA’s team went to distribute food parcels to the suffering and isolated civilians in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in Damascus.
Once vibrant heart of the Palestine refugee community in Syria, where 160,000 Palestinians lived in harmony with Syrians.
Approximately 18,000 Palestinians and an unknown number of Syrians remain in the camp that has been reduced to rubble.
The #LetUsThrough initiative generated over 38.5 million social media impressions and reached over 26 million people, demanding humanitarian access to what the UN estimates are 10 million people in Syria who need assistance, including 5 million children. The campaign has been featured on the Thunderclap website as one of the most successful in its history.
At Time Square, as a gesture of solidarity with people suffering in Syria, hundreds of flashmob participants raised a piece of Syrian pita bread toward the Yarmouk image projected on giant Reuters screen.
“You will get there eventually sooner or later, just stand by, we are with you and the whole world is going to be with you soon.” – said Bassam Faraj from Syria.
Bettina Luescher is the chief spokesperson of the World Food Program.
“I’m here on behalf of all the aid workers that are risking their lives every single day to help the people of Syria, to help the refugees around. It’s a huge crisis, we need to get into Syria all the time, everywhere, to bring aid and food like this here, to the people who are going hungry.”-said Luescher.
For, Syrian American activist Hamid Imam this was a unique way of connecting with his family, living under siege in Syria.
“There’s no communication, there’s no internet connections, there’s no phone line connections, so the news that I get about them are barely minimum. It feels helpless, I’m still optimistic that hopefully the people will see a light at the end of this tunnel.”
The UNRWA campaign was backed by the UK-based HOPING Foundation, which secured support for a joint UNRWA-HOPING statement backed by 30 celebrities and figures from the world of arts and entertainment. These included Alfonso Cuarón, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Annie Lennox, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Adams, Stephen Frears and Ken Loach. Stephen Fry and Mia Farrow also actively tweeted in support of the campaign.
