More than 80 people died in a 51-day stand-off in 1993 between federal agents and fringe-religious group the Branch Davidians
Thirty years ago on 19 April, 1993, a huge fire engulfed the Mount Carmel Center compound 13 miles outside of Waco, Texas, ending a 51-day stand-off between the government agents and a fringe-religious group, the Branch Davidians.
The shoot-out between the group and the authorities was the “largest gunfight on American soil since the civil war”, said The Guardian, and the resulting stand-off was a “diplomatic tightrope walk played out on a public stage”. After the fire burned out, more than 80 people including children and federal agents had died.
