Catboy Massacre

The 2017 Catboy Massacre was the mass murder of unarmed Catboy civilians by the 7th, 8th, and 12th Mom Divisions in Bulgy Wulgy, South East Confederacy uf Mothers (CUM), on March 10, 2017 and was the inciting incident for the War of Catboy Independence. Between 175,000 and 225,000 unarmed catboys were killed by CUM Soldiers and the entire city was sacked and burnt to the ground. The massacre was a result of decades of ethnic tension between the catboy minority present in the South Eastern CUM. The deployment of the 7th, 8th, and 12th divisions were a response to protests and demonstrations being held in Bulgy Wulgy, a majority catboy city, which had some instances of isolated violence.

This war crime was widely condemned by the international community although little to no action was taken. The killings were perpetrated within the city itself and extended as far as 15 miles into the surrounding countryside as villages were ravaged and survivors were hunted down. Within the Confederacy uf Mothers, domestic backlash varied as a 2017 poll found that 42% of mothers had mixed feelings towards the incident, 33% had positive feelings, and 25% had negative feelings. Currently 171 countries worldwide consider the catboy massacre to be an act of genocide while the CUM maintains that the incident was a matter of national security.

Ethnic tensions within the CUM
Since the annexation of the Catboy Kingdom in 1953, the region has made up the South Eastern portion of the CUM. While tensions between the two groups had always been high due to centuries long border conflicts, the annexation brought turned the catboys into a minority within the CUM. Decades of civil injustice, discrimination, violence, and segregation caused widespread rioting and protesting in the former kingdom.

Demonstrations leading up to the massacre
After the murder of several catboys by a group of mothers in Bulgy Wulgy on February 21st 2017, massive protests rocked the city for weeks. Escalation from local law enforcement led to rioting, leaving 7 dead and 3 in critical condition, and the burning of the Bulgy Wulgy Police Precinct on March 3rd. Increased violence and street clashes, led the police to call in the military and a state of emergency was declared.

The deployment of the divisions
On March 4th, Grand General Karen declared Bulgy Wulgy to be in a state of rebellion and immediately called in the 7th, 8th, and 12th divisions. By March 9th, 150,000 CUM soldiers began marching on the city. By this point, civil rights leader OwO had taken charge of the movement and began demanding equal treatment under the law for all Catboys and full recognition of the rights of all Catboys. Grand General Karen gave the OwO and all the protestors until the next day to disperse or the demonstrations would be put down by force.

On the morning of March 10th, the Catboy protestors and rioters were still holding demonstrations in the city, in stark defiance to the Grand General's orders. At 8:32 AM the Grand General gave the order to put down the so-called rebellion by force and restore order to the city. The soldiers moved into the city and began beating protestors, firing into the air, and moving them back into the city center.

Massacre
It is unknown who fired the first shot but at 9:13 AM a CUM soldier opened fire on the crowd on Nyah street. Following this event more soldiers began firing into the crowd of civilians. It is also unknown whether these soldiers acted independently or whether they were given orders to fire on the ground. Either way by 9:15 the situation had turned into chaos as CUM soldiers moved through the city killing any Catboys they could find. Many shops and houses were set on fire and thousands were gunned down in the streets as they tried to flee.

Within the first hour an estimated 50,000 Catboys were killed within the city as the rest attempted to flee. At approximately 10:08 The 12th mom division began a blockade the city, cutting off an estimated 43,000 from escaping and raising the death toll inside the city to 93,000. According to census data, approximately 107,000 were able to escape the city including OwO. Reports from human rights organizations and leaks from with the CUM show bodies being piled and burned in the city as well as several mass graves dug outside the city walls.

A leaked audio recording shows that at 10:32 General Karen gave the order to "Follow the rebels to the Nuzzle. Send them all to the Manager, I don't want any survivors." Following this the 7th and 8th divisions moved 23 miles from Bulgy Wulgy to the Nuzzle River killing and burning everything in sight. An estimated 57,000 more Catboys were killed outside the city perimeter including those fleeing from the massacre and those who lived outside the city. of the city's population of 200,000, only around 50,000 survived.

Reports of the massacre are contested by the CUM who claim reports of the massacre are exaggerated and that only 25,000 were killed in self defense after rebel forces opened fire on CUM soldiers. However Mom's who deserted after the event testified at the 2017 UN Convention to confirm the reports from human rights organizations.

Corporal Becky, a member of the 8th division who did not follow orders to open fire, gave her testimony on the 21st of April: "''I walked up and saw these moms doing strange things ... Setting fire to the homes and buildings and waiting for people to come out and then shooting them ... going into them and shooting them up ... gathering people in groups and shooting them ... As I walked in you could see piles of catboys all through the city ... all over. They were gathered up into large groups. I saw them shoot an M79 grenade launcher into a group of catboys who were still alive. But it was mostly done with a machine gun. They were shooting children just like anybody else. We met no resistance and I only saw three captured weapons. We had no casualties.'"When PFC Carol entered the neighborhood of Cuddles, the massacre was underway:"'There were some Catboys, maybe fifteen of them, children included, walking on the road maybe 100 yards [90 m] away. All of a sudden, the moms opened up with M16s. Beside the M16 fire, they were shooting at the Catboys with M69 grenade launchers... I couldn't believe what I was seeing.'"

War Crimes Investigation
Following the massacre a UN task force investigated alleged atrocities by CUM troops against Catboy civilians and created a secret archive of some 2,000 pages documenting the events that unfolded at Bulgy Wulgy. It is widely believed that mass murders against Catboys escalated into genocide. On April 30th 2017, the United Nations General Assembly issued resolution 47/121 condemning "aggressive acts by the Confederacy uf Mothers to subdue protestors by force" and called such ethnic cleansing "a form of genocide". In its report published on 12 June 2017, Helsinki Watch was one of the first civil rights organisations that warned that "the extent of the violence and its selective nature along ethnic and religious lines suggest crimes of genocidal character against Catboy populations within the borders of the Confederacy." Currently 171 countries worldwide consider the catboy massacre to be an act of genocide.

The CUM, still under the control of Grand General Karen, has fervently denied all accusations of genocide and maintains that it was acting in proportional response to an active insurgent threat. No one involved in the Catboy Massacre has been charged and many received promotions. The event is celebrated as a great victory within the CUM, however many moms within the Confederacy disapprove of the extreme use of force.