Sixty-five stitches. This is what it took to rebuild the mouth and chin of Jean-Georges Prince. The Lebanese was shot in the face with a rubber bullet while demonstrating outside Parliament on Saturday January 18 in Beirut. A hundred people were injured that evening.

"I heard the first shot and saw a man collapse. Then I put my hand on my face and I realized that I was bloody. My friend looked at me in completely horrified . I'm a boxer, I'm used to beating. But I've never felt such pain, "he says.

When he arrives at the hospital, Jean-Georges has lost so much blood that the doctors don't have time to take him to the operating room. He was operated on a stretcher in the emergency room for four and a half hours. "It is absurd to see this kind of reaction from an institution which is supposed to guarantee the safety of the demonstrators," he said.

According to international standards, rubber bullets can only be fired at the lower body and never at close range. Jean-Georges said, however, that he had been hit by the bullet of a police officer posted four or five meters from him, at most. Gun experts recommend viewing at least five times the distance.

"Whatever they do, we're not going to stop"

Dozens of demonstrators have been injured recently by rubber bullets and by tear gas canisters. Actions that have even cost an eye to some. Thrown directly at the crowd, rubber bullets and tear gas can cause serious injury. Human rights associations denounce abuses committed at this level by the Lebanese security forces.

"I think their main weapon is fear. They want to scare us so that we stop demonstrating. I was injured Saturday night and Sunday evening thousands protested again. Whatever they do, We are not going to stop. For us, for our generation, this is a decisive battle for our future ", describes Jean-Georges.

Lebanon has had a new government since Tuesday, but that does not mean that the protest movement is slowing down. As soon as he recovered, Jean-Georges plans to join the protesters again. He intends to denounce a firm deemed to be a true copy of the previous one.

With AFP

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