The most striking aspect of this terrible story is that there was an outbreak of mass hysteria and it resulted in a temporary loss of humanity by many people.

From the story as printed it's not at all clear that this was what was involved.

As Bee-dubya-ell's suggested earlier (03 Nov 08 - 12:52 PM) it sounds very much like a case of a local regime of organised thugs using terror as a way to impose their authority on a community and stop anyone from daring to object to them doing whatever they choose to do.

Maybe most of the people in that crowd did approve of what was happening. Maybe they were appalled but terrified, scared of the thugs with the guns and the uniforms, fearful lest perhaps the other people around might be approving what was happening, and were ready to turn on them, if they indicated dissent. We aren't in a position to know, and when we don't know, we shouldn't feel entitled to judge them.

I'd suspect the longterm prospects of the people running that regime are not very good.