The Guinean community in Morrisania is reeling after a military massacre in Conakry, Guinea, on Sept. 28 that reportedly left more than 150 pro-democracy protesters dead.

Distraught worshippers at the Futa Islamic Center, a hub for Guineans in the Bronx, told stories of relatives who they said had been beaten and shot by soldiers who opened fire on a peaceful rally in a Conakry stadium. Some said that soldiers are continuing to make violent attacks on civilians in the aftermath of the assault.

The massacre has stirred outrage, anxiety and renewed political purpose among Guineans, whose families remain in danger within the troubled West African nation. New York’s roughly 6,000-strong Guinean community is more than 80 percent exiles, estimated Abdoulaye Diallo, 32, a Guinean journalist living in Queens. Many of them were admitted as refugees who fled political persecution by Guinea’s longtime military regime. On Oct. 26, the community will join a march on Washington, D.C., calling on the United States to act to stop further atrocities and force the resignation of Guinea’s military leader, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara.

Guinean worshippers at the Futa Islamic Center listen to accounts of the violence in Conakry. Photo: Sasha Chavkin.

Siadou Diallo, an attaché at the Guinean Consulate in New York, declined to comment on the situation. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has denounced the attack as “criminality to the greatest degree” and called on Camara to step down.

Alpha U. Barrie, 28, a taxi driver from the Bronx, said that his younger brothers Yusuf and Mamadou were severely beaten by soldiers when they attended the rally. He said on Sept. 29 that Yusuf, 21, had not spoken since being struck in the head by soldiers’ guns. He worried that his family was trapped in Conakry waiting for the roads to open so they could leave Guinea to seek medical care.

“What is happening in the country is a massacre,” Barrie said.

The bloodshed occurred at a rally, in which protesters called on Camara to put an end to decades of military rule in Guinea by holding open elections in which he would not be a candidate. A Guinean civil society association told The New York Times that the crackdown indicated that the Guinean military was determined to stay in power and sought to eliminate forces of opposition.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of the all-male second floor chamber of the Futa Islamic Center, a group of some 30 Guinean men traded grim stories and rumors of events in Conakry. According to Dr. A. Balde, who acted as a Fulani interpreter, these accounts included morgues being secretly emptied into mass graves and soldiers entering hospitals and killing wounded protesters.

Balde, who asked that his first name be withheld to avoid endangering his relatives in Guinea, said on Oct. 18 that Guineans in the Bronx were still receiving word of attacks by soldiers on their family members.

Doussou Conde, a political activist who was granted asylum in New York in 2000, said that Guinea’s military has a long history of violent repression of dissent.

“This is routine in military power in Guinea, but this is the worst time in the country’s history,” she said.

On Oct. 26, Guineans will travel to the nation’s capitol and march past the White House and State Department to demand further action against Guinea’s military rulers, including prosecution of the massacre’s perpetrators by an international tribunal. Conde called on President Obama to endorse the Guinean community’s demands and take action against the Guinean regime.

“He is the guy who knows all the culture from here to back home,” said Conde. “He just needs to act. We need help to remove this government.”