The atmosphere on Hamra Street irritates the eyes and nose, laden with tear gas fired in abundance by the Lebanese security forces. Hands tied, a young man is pushed into a police van, in which other demonstrators have already been loaded. Tuesday, January 14, the commercial artery of west Beirut is groggy after riot scenes. Bank facades have been vandalized. Cobblestones torn from the ground against the police.
"This anger is the accumulation of months of humiliation and tension, because of the banks that limit access to the accounts, the inertia of the politicians, who behave as if there were no protests in the country for months "says Ali, an artist, who came with two friends to demonstrate.
The violence ended, this day marked a resumption of mobilization, more tenuous in recent weeks. Supporters of the anti-system protest movement in Lebanon called for a week of 'Anger'. Rallies to denounce the worsening of the economic situation or the political paralysis took place, before a demonstration organized in the early evening, in front of the central bank, degenerated.
Protesters tried to enter this place surrounded by barbed wire. Security forces responded with tear gas bursts, while charging demonstrators and troublemakers. Since October 17, 2019, protesters have conspired the institution’s financial policy, accusing it of having led the country to bankruptcy, and its lack of transparency.
Political infiltration
The presence of young people chanting slogans pro-Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, and pro-Nabih Berri, the president of the Parliament, of the Amal movement – two Shiite parties which until then had opposed anti-system demonstrations -, aroused controversy in the ranks of protest.
Several demonstrators denounce a political infiltration intended to sabotage the movement. The others refuse to stigmatize these participants. “The vast majority of people in front of the central bank were known faces from these 90 days of mobilization, not affiliated sympathizers. And everyone feels injured by the economic crisis and has the right to demonstrate ”, says Adib, 31, who claims to be " from the left ", and determined to return to demonstrate outside the central bank.
People can no longer pay their rent, unemployment is rising, businesses are closing. All this can only fuel anger, "says researcher Georges Haddad
