30 November 2006
Afternoon.
I am now in Beirut, Lebanon. The tension is everywhere in the rich neighbourhood in which I am staying. I can see it in the way people fidget with their fingers.. in the way they tap their feet on the ground.. Everybody is on edge awaiting the announcement of where the protest will be, no doubt praying that it won't be too close. Until then, the neighbourhood waits.
Night.
The protest has been announced tomorrow for the Riad Solh Square, right beside the government palace in downtown Beirut. The opposition, led by the Lebanese political and military group Hezbollah, has asked all citizens of Lebanon to go to the square and camp there indefinitely until the president resigns on account of his corruption and the illegitimacy of the current government. Already tonight, there have been demonstrators driving down the street in processions, honking their horns and waving flags.
1 December 2006
The elation is everywhere in the poor neighbourhood in which I am working. Everybody has a glimmer in his or her eyes, and the excitement is palatable. By noon, there was nobody left in the hospital, and by two almost nobody left in the neighbourhood. Just outside the hospital in which I am working landed the first bombs of the Israeli war against Lebanon. The people of the Dahiya district are ignored, poor and by now unafraid.
I wanted to see the demonstrations with my own eyes. I walked out of the hospital after my shift, and piled into an overfilled minibus that took us to the rally site. There were no less than a million present in one of the most festive congregations of people I have ever seen. I cannot imagine how a democratic government can survive this for any length of time.
tarek : )
Background reading:
Photos:
Opposition supporters at midnightProtest campsiteGuarding the PalaceGuarding the Palace