Mothers of the Disappeared
Yesterday the mothers of the Lebanese disappeared went down to parliament and demanded the release of their children. A large group of people from the Martyrs' Square tent-city joined them. A list of their demands was printed on a single piece of paper which they wanted to deliver in person.
The ministers of parliament left the building and completely ignored the demonstrators. They got in their cars with their drivers and bodyguards and tried to drive away.
The demonstrators blocked the road. All they wanted was to deliver a piece of paper in person to their own government.
MP Adnan Araqgi's driver nearly ran over a demonstrator named George Badra. Badra jumped out of the way and hit the car with a Lebanese flag.
Then hell broke loose.
Araqgi's bodyguard leapt out of the car and pointed a pistol at Badra. Seized by the briefest flicker of reasonableness, he fired shots into the air instead of into Badra. Then he pistol-whipped Badra on the back of his head. Badra fell unconcsious to the ground. Blood pooled on the pavement.
Demonstrators charged Araqgi's bodyguard and a full-blown clash exploded in the streets between the demonstrators, the military, and riot police. Citizens were beaten in the streets with clubs and the butts of Kalashnikovs. The fight lasted twenty minutes.
One of the tent-city residents, who prefers to remain anonymous, saw what had happened and walked up to one of the military officers at the scene. "You should be ashamed of yourselves," he told me he said to the officer's face. "You have blood on your hands in the service of a foreign country."
The officer looked at his feet. "You are right," he reportedly said. "You are right."
At night back at the tent-city I talked to one of the injured demonstrators - Hady Souid - right after he was released from the hospital. He was in pain, but also in good spirits. He shrugged off the fight, laughed at his injuries, then said "ouch" as he sat in a chair at one of the tent-city's computers.
Tough people here in Lebanon. They grew up with bigger problems than these and are not easily cowed.
Several ministers just made sure they would be replaced after May 29, I think.
Posted on 2005-04-28 06:39:57 by Brian H.Several ministers just made sure they would be replaced after May 29, I think.
Posted on 2005-04-28 06:40:36 by Brian H.Gee, I haven't heard this on any of the networks. But then that's what Blogs are for.
Posted on 2005-04-28 14:30:08 by Daniel B.Its a good thing that the Bodyguards was smart enough not to shoot the man. That would have caused a major riot at the very least.
Posted on 2005-04-28 20:35:19 by Final H.I heard the news and lot of stations showed the details, but not these ones. I do not know which one (news or author) are right because frankly, I cannot believe 100% both of the sources. The news told that agressiveness from the soldiers in place was seen but the videos showed that these people wanted by force to enter the "Nejme Sqare" and the soldiers reacted in return. Moreover, the bodyguard was arrested and then the victims could not identify him (they were in the AUB hospital). I do not know what the newspaper (assafir newspaper)meant by victims. These victims did not know arabic very well and they had US passports. In anycase, I just cannot believe both since I think lot of subjectivity is given in this report and it is clear from the introduction. However, subjectivity is why blogs are there. Regards
Posted on 2005-04-28 22:42:38 by Samer H.Samer H: "These victims did not know arabic very well and they had US passports."
That is absolutely not true. I am the only person who hangs around these rallies and the tent-city who doesn't speak Arabic very well and carries a US passport. Drop the paranoia.
Posted on 2005-04-29 06:10:29 by Michael T.Michael,
you can consider what I said paranoia or mistrust. It is your opinion and I respect that. This is democracy no? However, I am still free in believing what I want and what I believe is that in these situations (unorganized protests and not the tents dialogue that I respect), sometimes even the people who are there does not see everything that happened, including you. Paranoia is different than objectiveness especially that I live in the US and I do not have anything against the american people. Do not worry, I do not have any conspiracy theory in my head.
Posted on 2005-04-29 21:29:36 by Samer H.
