In one corner of the Gemayzeh area near the Beirut port explosion site, French President Emmanuel Macron listens to a Lebanese woman saying to him burningly: Please do not give money to our corrupt government, and Macron responds: I will not.
Lebanese woman addresses @EmmanuelMacron on the streets of #beirut pic.twitter.com/ZKOW8R0DAv
- Oleksandra El Zahran (@polleksandra) August 6, 2020
X: “We want the people to receive the aid directly..we dont trust the government”
“Do u trust me? .. u will receive aid directly ..”
Lebanese trust a foreign president & ask foreign forces to help them because our politicians are criminals & would never treat / respect us like macron did pic.twitter.com/tHYPJFTpKf
- Romy (@romyjournalist) August 6, 2020
In another corner, Macron hears - during a tour of the Gemayzeh areas and Mar Mikhael in Beirut - a Lebanese saying to him: Please save us because you are the only hope we have left.
"Please help us," shouts a Lebanese man to French President
Emmanuel Macron as he visited #Beirut today.
This is the result of #Iran inflicting its death & destruction in Lebanon through Hezbollah from 1982 to this day.pic.twitter.com/kHfnUpx8pI
- Heshmat Alavi (@HeshmatAlavi) August 6, 2020
«Aidez-nous! Vous êtes notre seul espoir! »
La population libanaise 🇱🇧 en appelle à l'aide d '@ EmmanuelMacron 🇫🇷. # Lebanon #Liban #Beyrouth #Beyrout #Beirut #BeirutExplosion pic.twitter.com/fq6XWFTjzk
- Fʀᴇɴᴄʜ 🇫🇷🇪🇺 Oɴ Tʜᴇ Lᴇғᴛ | Macron #FranceUnie 🇫🇷🌍🍃❁ (@OnZeLeft) August 6, 2020
Citizens rallied to receive the French President amidst tight security measures implemented by the Lebanese army, some chanted "Long live France", others chanted "revolution, revolution", and "the people want to overthrow the regime", and some were chanting slogans hostile to President Michel Aoun and the Lebanese government and politicians.
About 100 volunteers cleaning up Gemmayze Street in #Beirut crowd around French President Macron, chanting “the people deand the fall of the regime” and “President Michel Aoun is a terrorist.” # Lebanon pic.twitter.com/LpN6XW2zp0
- Kareem Chehayeb Karim (@chehayebk) August 6, 2020
Macron mobbed in Beirut. Down with the regime, locals chanted, and called for Revolution while declaiming Lebanon's President Aoun. pic.twitter.com/4ntkZToUFj
- Quentin Sommerville (@sommervilletv) August 6, 2020
People who were present in the area praised Macron's move and his visit to the two regions hardest hit by the explosion, considering that Macron is the only politician who dared and took to the street and heard the demands of the afflicted, while Lebanese politicians are deafening about the catastrophe that befell the people.
This lady i witnessed today represent me. #Beirut #Macron pic.twitter.com/tah682jzti
- Serge Majdalany (@sergemajdalany) August 6, 2020
Macron also assured the Lebanese gathered to receive him that Lebanon needs political change, revealing the launch of a new political initiative.
"I express my solidarity with you, and I have come to provide aid and medicines to the people and to discuss the issue of corruption," Macron added, addressing the gathering citizens.
#urgent Macron to Lebanese citizens in a blast hit area: I will propose a new political pact in lebanon, and I will be back in September 1, and if they can't do it, I'll take my political responsibility- #lebanon #beirut #france pic.twitter.com/jGDxJea1yD
- Mohamad Ali Harissi (@aleeharissi) August 6, 2020
It is reported that the president tweeted on his official Twitter account with 3 words: "Lebanon is not alone"
Le Liban n'est pas seul.
- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 6, 2020