"The Lebanese need to feel that the French are close to them"

Journalist Elise Lucet.

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• This Thursday evening, the antennas of France 2 and France Inter are mobilizing for the United for Lebanon operation, almost two months after the deadly explosion in Beirut.

• At 9:10 p.m., a charity concert will be broadcast live from L'Olympia in order to collect donations for the Lebanese people.

• At 8:40 p.m., the evening will be launched with a report by a team of Special Envoy filmed in Beirut.

• “There is a correspondence, a proximity, between the Lebanese and French peoples.

  It was important to give news of our Lebanese cousins, ”Elise Lucet told

  20 Minutes

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The antennas of France 2 and France Inter are mobilizing this Thursday for Lebanon.

From 9:10 p.m. they will broadcast a charity concert live from L'Olympia to come to the aid of the Lebanese people victim of the August 4 explosion in Beirut.

A call for donations will be launched (see box).

As a preamble to the show which will bring together dozens of artists including Mika, Clara Luciani, Florent Pagny, Salvatore Adamo, Grand Corps Malade, Madame Monsieur, M, Yannick Noah, Sting or Bernard Lavilliers, a report produced by the

will be broadcast.

Elise Lucet, who visited the Lebanese capital earlier this week, spoke with

on her return to Paris.

Was it important for you to make the trip to Beirut?

I had never been to Lebanon and it was a great regret for me, this country has always attracted me a lot.

There, it was unfortunately a somewhat express trip, but yes, it was very important that

participate in this evening.

I went there, as well as two of our reporters, Romain Boutilly and Baptiste Laigle.

They took care of the report on the meeting of the Lebanese which will be broadcast before the concert and another devoted to the investigation of the explosion which will be scheduled later in the year.

We felt concerned even before this special evening got underway at France Télévisions.

Before the musical and festive side, it was essential to recall the facts?

Yes and I also think that there is a correspondence, a proximity, between the Lebanese and French peoples.

It was important to give news of our Lebanese cousins.

We went to meet bereaved families, like the parents of little Alexandra.

She was 3 years old and she died while playing in her bedroom.

She was blown away by the explosion.

She and her parents had been important figures in the Lebanese revolution for a year.

The little girl went to demonstrations, she had become the symbol of the people's revolt against poverty, corruption ...

What was the atmosphere like there in Beirut?

Yesterday [Tuesday], we met people who are still very much in shock, who cry quite easily.

We feel that there is a deep trauma.

They are disillusioned, they have the feeling that no one is going to help them, at least not the Lebanese government.

This is something I heard all day yesterday.

The inhabitants are in front of their gutted building facades and they have received only a few visits from officials since the disaster.

Only the NGOs or young Lebanese volunteers came to help them to clear the rubble and try to support the constructions as much as possible.

I met people telling me that they had lost their homes, their jobs, their cars… We entered a devastated hairdressing salon with an adorable little lady who was still cutting the hair of certain clients.

In the street, people wander, thinking that nothing is going to happen for them, who are in a state of absolute poverty.

That's why I think they need this evening of solidarity and to feel that the French are close to them.

It is extremely moving and striking to see how left behind they feel.

What did he tell you when you mentioned this charity event, which will also be broadcast on Lebanese television?

They were grateful and said it was great - they are very attached to France - but at the same time, they are of great dignity.

When I asked them to tell the French what they needed, it was impossible for them, it was as if they were giving alms.

It is not possible in the Lebanese state of mind to reach out to beg for anything.

Sixty artists commit and support Lebanon at the Arab World Institute

People

Mika writes heartbreaking letter to Lebanese people

Call for donations

The United for Lebanon operation aims to collect donations for the French Red Cross.

These can be paid by Internet, via the Croix-rouge.fr site or by SMS, by sending the word LIBAN to 92 200 to make a donation of 5 euros.

It is also possible to send a check payable to: “Urgence Beyrouth 2020” to the following address: French Red Cross - CS 20011 - 59895 Lille cedex 9. All the sums collected will be donated to the Cross - Lebanese Red and NGOs mobilized around Lebanese culture and heritage.

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• Elise lucet

• France Inter

• Lebanon

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