Tripoli .. From "Kandahar Lebanon" to "Bride of the Revolution"

The city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon has become the focus of attention of the citizens and the point of local media uniqueness of the air for live broadcast, after it was racing years ago to keep up with the bloody rounds of fighting witnessed and the filming of children with weapons or investigating the news of militants.

Since the start of the popular movement demonstrations, the night of Tripoli, once described as "Kandahar Lebanon", has turned into a big theater with songs, dance episodes and enthusiastic songs, breaking thousands of young men and women the stereotype of a conservative city whose name is linked to wars, extremism and poverty.

Dancing candles
Since Friday night, thousands of people from different parts of the north have been flocking to Abdel Hamid Karami Square, the so-called Nour Square in the coastal city, to denounce the difficult living conditions, unemployment and corruption, as is the case in other areas. But the demonstrations soon took on an exceptional celebration, AFP reports.

Demonstrators turn into an open-air dance, and protesters raise their cell phones lit like candles, swaying to the rhythm of music and songs ranging from patriotism to popular enthusiasm among young people.

"Tripoli paid a heavy price because of the country's political system," said Amal, a 22-year-old university student. "I was stigmatized by terrorism and everyone was afraid to enter the city as a militant and an Islamist."

She explained that her city "just the opposite ... and this occasion came to demand to express our demands for the fall of power," stressing that it is "proud" because "part of a move contrary to the cultural character of Tripoli."

Disputes for decades
The city has been the scene of several conflicts for decades, and hundreds of its children joined fighters against the regime in neighboring Syria after the outbreak of the conflict in 2011. Lebanese authorities have pursued and arrested armed groups on charges of planning and participating in terrorist operations and attacks in Lebanon, or going to Syria to join the ranks of Islamic organizations.

Between 2007 and 2014, the city witnessed at least 20 rounds of fighting between Alawite-majority Jabal Mohsen and Sunni-dominated Tabbaneh residents, and the Syrian conflict has increased its sectarian character. It stopped as the state imposed its security plan in 2014.

It also suffered bombings targeting the most prominent mosques in the city in the summer of 2013, which left 45 people dead and dozens wounded. There are also occasional army shelling and rocket attacks.

Bride of the Revolution
Tripoli, the capital of northern Lebanon, is severely neglected, with 57% of its population living at or below the poverty line, while 26% are extremely poor, according to a 2015 UN study.

In the early days of the popular movement, demonstrators tore up images of leaders spread in slums, shops and electricity poles, with no exception, notably Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, who was popular, as well as local Sunni leaders, including businessmen who are Lebanon's most wealthy.

After video footage spread in the city on social media and through the media, protesters from various areas of the neighborhood joined the movement. Through loudspeakers, protesters salute the mainly Christian Zgharta and Bushri districts, the Shiite-dominated southern suburbs and other areas.

What Tripoli is witnessing is described by Mahmoud Shawak, 50, who heads a local association that helps organize the demonstrations as a "wedding in the full sense of the word." One protester chose to call the city the "Bride of the Revolution."

From the first day, Mahdi Karima, 29, a music coordinator in the city, climbed the roof of a building overlooking the square with a number of his friends and musical instruments, to begin coordinating music and songs, which was a great attraction for the demonstrators.

"I have taken this initiative individually with a number of my friends. I have contributed to the civilization of the Tripoli demonstration," said Karima, who never imagined that his individual initiative would turn into an infection in other areas.

Wealthy .. Deprived
Local institutions and individuals volunteered to distribute the city's famous sweets to the protesters or meals, water bottles and lemon juice, while the city's poor, who sell boiled beans and corn brides, find their livelihood.

Like the rest of the regions, the demanded movement is primarily economic in the city, which suffers from state neglect, which has resulted in the non-functioning of its vital and economic facilities and turned it into an isolated city.

Tripoli, home to a strategically located port between Lebanon and Syria, has been neglected for more than half a century, as well as an architectural masterpiece designed by the world's most famous architect Oscar Niemeyer in the twentieth century, but threatened to collapse if not renovated.

While Tripoli is home to wealthy politicians and businessmen, the city is divided vertically between deprived slums and rich suburbs.

Oppressed and oppressed
"We want a ruling class with dignity like us, we want a civil state, separation of powers, and separation of religion and power," said Wafa Khoury, 48, a social activist.

During the last parliamentary elections in 2018, the popularity of the Future Movement led by Hariri, which has long promised to the city's people as a popular incubator, promised to develop and improve Tripoli.

"Tripoli is rebelling because it is oppressed and oppressed," said doctor and social activist Nafez Moghaddam, 60.