Assassination In Moscow As A Trigger

[Casey_03]

I have been covering the recent assassination of an opposition politician in Moscow for work. He was shot dead right in front of the Kremlin, his body left out on the pavement for hours afterwards. Truly horrifying. The politics behind it is something so far removed from my reality that I didn't expect covering the story to affect me in any real way, but being at a massive protest today, with a truly scary police presence, was very jarring. I was hyper vigilant the whole time and found myself quite literally fleeing after it all became too much. I kept expecting violence. There is something so terrifying about how easy it is to take away a human life and how quickly people forget about it. I don't even like going out of the house, despite how depressing it is to sit at home all day. I guess I am just sharing this because I am surprised by how deeply this has affected me, and I can only guess that it's because of the PTSD. In less than a month, I will be living in a warzone in Ukraine, so can only hope I will be strong enough to deal with that.

 

[Friday]

It's not hypervigilence in the overreaction sense when you're in a mob. Angry, or otherwise, mobs are unpredictable, dangerous, and deadly. It's good, rock solid, common sense.

 

[Anarchy]

Take care Casey, It was a very dangerous situation, you were right to be vigilant.

 

[SeaQuel]

As @FridayJones and @Anarchy said, I think you were right to have a heightened sense of awareness. Something violent and unpredictable did in fact occur and protests can always go from peaceful to not. For me, I somehow thrive on being in dangerous locations, but the difference is that I know they are dangerous going into it.

 

[Fraser46]

I have had a similar weekend Casey_03, situations that are similar or are unpredictable can trigger emotions and thoughts. I was badly attacked when I worked in Moscow in 2012 and as a just I now suffer from a TBI and PTSD. Just seeing reports about the assassination of Boris Nemstov was difficult as I used to walk in that area lots as Great Moskvoretsky Bridge is so closed to Red Square/Kremlin. It is a busy area of Moscow and because of this I never felt particularly unsafe - although other areas I did. I have some lovely memories of my time in Moscow, but unfortunately some difficult ones too.