The Secular Club of the American University of Beirut (AUB) has called for a massive protest in the name of all students in Lebanon, which will continue the chain of student movements rejecting the policies of private universities.
“Since AUB was the first to take the decision to dollarize the tuition fee, which had a clear impact on the rest of the private universities, and as a reaction to the oppression and violence that students were subjected to last Saturday in Bliss Street, now is our time to take back the street,” AUB Secular students announced on social media.
AUB students emphasized that they are persisting in their student battle and inviting every single student in Lebanon to move in front of AUB Main Gate on Tuesday, December 29th, at 11 AM.
This move comes as a pivotal milestone in the student battle to reclaim their rights, as only five days ago students gathered outside AUB, protesting peacefully against the tremendous spike of tuition fees. They were met with unjustified violence from the riot police and army.
However, the presidency office of AUB responded to the incident in a not so “calming” manner.
“The protest had been called against tuition adjustments that AUB and
other universities had declared recently, adjustments which AUB has gone to great
lengths to communicate and explain the necessity of,” it wrote in a statement directed to all AUB’s students.
“We support the right of students, faculty, and staff to free speech and freedom to
protest, and we emphatically and consistently condemn all violence no matter the
provocation. We do so again today, and we utterly refute the outright fabrications
that AUB had any role in calling in the security forces or directing their actions against
demonstrators,” the statement added.
The AUB’s president Khoury continues to point out that a careful review of sequential video footage of the demonstration would indicate to him that security personnel had accompanied the march from Hamra Street to LAU and then to AUB.
“Certain individuals purposefully triggered the confrontation on Bliss Street by throwing rocks and other projectiles at the security forces,” he charged.
AUB students will continue to coordinate with all students in Lebanon, in favor of just resolutions against the despair they are currently experiencing.
