It’s quite simple really. They flaunt their strength on the people who have no one to watch their back, no militia weapons in their arms and no wasta to clear their names. They dare to beat those people up for speaking. They dare to turn peaceful protests into matters of them flexing their muscles.
3askar 3a min? 3askar 3al d3if. 3askar 3a yalli ma fi bdahro 7ada. 3askar 3a yalli fiyon yesta2wo 3leih.
Photo by Bilal Jawich
Can we excuse them? Perhaps so. After all, the level of repression of power (as to not to say castration) in the picture below is too damn high. Something’s gotta give somewhere – and some Lebanese are the ones on whom that something is given every single time.
Picture courtesy of Naharnet
Armed forces that only use their power against the weak are not armed forces that can protect me. They are not armed forces I respect. They are not armed forces I feel any patriotism toward. They are armed forces that disgust me. And the latest protest wasn’t their first time at it recently. They also beat up students protesting Lebanon’s history book almost a year ago.
Can we expect otherwise from a country that is on the fast track to become an exemplary failure? Failure of governance, failure of politics, failure of a parliament, failure of mentalities and last but not least failure of an army.
I may not think the protests against the parliament’s mandate will get us anywhere – not when the country’s legal and judicial division is not even separate from the political debacle. Speaking of judicial power, let’s add another failure to the above list: the constitutional “joke” council. But it’s the damn right of the protesters not to get beaten up for protesting.
Do I live in a dictatorship? It’s sure feeling more and more like it with every single day. Teslam ya 3askar lebnen ya 7amina.
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares 
Let’s consider this rationally:
The army has orders to protect parliament square. Protesters tried to invade parliament square by force… Army responded.
The army has orders to protect civilians from armed men in the streets (Sara7a, let both sides kill each other, but not come close to civilians… why risk army men when they’ll just kill each other). The army watched those men kill each other. And that picture shows they were HIGHLY outnumbered…
So quit the attention-seeking-blog writings, and report this RATIONALLY.
The army has no current capability to stop all armed militias in Lebanon. Kholsit
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1) I find it hard to believe only one army tank was deployed in Saida. I find it hard to believe the army is always outnumbered every single time militias run haywire.
2) Yeah, sure – the protesters wanted to invade parliament. That’s why we beat them up right.
3) I’m afraid all form of rationality drops when people dare to criticize our beloved army. 7aram, they do nothing wrong.
4) I guess the president was attention-seeking when he criticized the behavior of the armed forces as well.
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How is that rational?
Do you believe the army should be a private guard for people in power to use if something is done they don’t like?
Shouldn’t the LAF (attempt to) secure the sovereignty of the state and its borders by confronting *all* armed groups which don’t?
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“I may not think the protests against the parliament’s mandate will get us anywhere” then what should people do NAG ?? nagging wont get us anywhere
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Yeah perhaps. But some people who nag don’t set out to change things – they just need to vent. Besides, saying a protest won’t get us anywhere is one thing and saying a protest shouldn’t happen is another.
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of course protesting ONCE wont get us anywhere it should be done more often till we get our rights, lebanese give up so easily and want the easy way out in everything even in making money
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Why is the army used against civilian protests in the first place, even if it concerns the surroundings of the parliament? These guys on the first picture are regular army and not (even) ISF, right? Aren’t your regular police equipped with batons at least and don’t they have anti-riot gear if things get hot?
In my opinion when the army is used against non(-heavily) armed civilians something is *very* wrong with the government’s perception of law & order. Even the use of the gendarmerie should be strongly reconsidered by those in power.
Perhaps it’s a middle eastern thing. Israel uses “border police” and the regular army in the Palestinian territories and we all know what the Syrians do….
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hehhe well said Daniel 🙂
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Reblogged this on Ned Hamson Second Line View of the News and commented:
There is a time for everything, the saying goes; this is a time for your generation to stand and create a new, beautiful and democratic Lebanon through strength of will and spirit, not violence?
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