Protests have been gradually returning to the streets in Lebanon. But on Sunday, April 26th, the night before the government’s plan to initiate the reopening of the country was supposed to start, things got heated up.
Protests erupted in several areas around Lebanon, like Tayouneh, Dora, Zalka, Jal El-Dib, Dbayeh, Cornich El Mazraa, Taalabeya, El-Marj, Mina, Saadiyat, Abdeh, Akkar, Chekka, and Anfeh, to name some.
After weeks of the Lebanese people being confined to their homes without work and without income, and the USD exchange rate hitting the ceiling (if ceiling there is), and taxes being highly unbearable with no basic amenities in return, the Lebanese have returned to the streets angrier than ever.
“Hunger has no mercy,” says a Lebanese proverb. The country has been plummeting for over a year, and nothing was done by the officials to rescue it.
Weeks before the coronavirus outbreak, the people have warned that the revolution of the hunger is edging close.
Intriguingly enough, the officials didn’t heed the outcry nor the warning, yet all indications were there that Lebanon was quickly reaching that point of angry despair.
And now, that angry despair is active on the streets. Several roads around Lebanon were blocked with burning tires.
When the army/ISF came to disperse the protests and open the roads, big clashes ensued, especially in Zalka and Jal El Dib.
As a result of these clashes, and the violence that reached everyone, men and women, several fell injured and many were arrested.
The video below shows two women lying on the ground and the following one shows one of them recounting what happened to her.
The video below, however, shows that all Lebanese are in this together, the ISF members, the army members, and the people, no matter their disagreements.
During one of the clashes, a protester shouted: “We’re hungry! Wallah, we’re hungry. Don’t you have kids?!” And the ISF member answered him: “I’m even hungrier than you!”
Despite all the clashes, this video reminds us that the revolution isn’t protesters against security forces who, after all, are doing their job in following orders.
It is Lebanese against hunger, corruption, humiliation, and the disregard of the officials towards the misery the country has fallen into.
After all, it is a nationwide affliction, whatever the clothes we wear, the orders we take, the job we do or don’t do anymore, and the leaders we follow or don’t anymore for them having failed us.
The Lebanese revolution, which has gone into quarantine since the lockdown, is now back on the streets and doesn’t seem to want to retreat.
