REPORTAGE
The Lebanese are revolted against political leaders considered irresponsible and corrupt. They were thousands to demonstrate on Saturday in the streets of Beirut, four days after the double explosion in the port of the Lebanese capital, which left more than 150 dead and 6,000 injured. "Vengeance, revenge, until the fall of the regime", chanted in particular the protesters whose stated goal is to enter the Lebanese Parliament. A symbol aiming to "regain power", and "gain what [we] lost against politicians: power and justice", exclaims Maria, among the demonstrators.
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"Beirut, city of the Revolution"
Barricades and hundreds of soldiers bar all accesses, but in front of them, angry young people throw cobblestones against the police, who respond to them with tear gas. On the Place des Martyrs, a gathering place, a gallows about ten meters long has been installed. At the end of the ropes: the faces of each of the country's leaders. "They are the ones who run the country", denounce Marc at the microphone of Europe 1. "We do not know what happened, but to have 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut where we goes to have a drink, study, pray ... We don't want them anymore! We don't want them anymore! "
A few hundred yards away, the Foreign Ministry was also stormed by demonstrators holding up signs bearing the symbol of the revolution that shook the country less than a year ago, and on which one could read "Demilitarized Beirut, Beirut city of the Revolution". Without violence, the demonstrators managed to enter the premises of the ministry. "It's symbolic, we have returned, we will go out, if we managed to have it, we can have any ministry, we just need to be together," explains a protester.
"We have nothing more to lose"
"We no longer have a home, we don't even have food, they just left us like that, in the streets, and they don't even have pity on us," says Mélissa, another protester. "It's been four days ... We go down to help people, we repair our own house, while they have not even thought to move their ass", she continues, exasperated.
Lebanon is experiencing an unprecedented political and economic crisis. At the end of 2019, a protest movement had emerged, denouncing the corruption of Lebanese leaders and demanding their departure from power, before being slowed down by the coronavirus pandemic. With the double explosion on Tuesday, which occurred because of the storage of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in the port of the Lebanese capital, the demonstrators denounce the irresponsibility and the carelessness of the politicians. "We really have nothing left and everyone is affected", continues Mélissa, while thousands of Lebanese, already severely affected by the economic crisis, now find themselves homeless. "We are going to take risks because we have nothing more to lose, we no longer have a future, we can no longer even live in this country", she laments. "Most people are ready to die because they have nothing more to lose. We are dying little by little. First we were trying to survive, and now we are completely devastated."
Among the protesters, many came with their families. Adolescents and young adults accompanied by their parents. "I am a Lebanese mother like all those mothers who are afraid for their sons and daughters", testifies Lara, who came to demonstrate with her daughter in her twenties. We don't deserve this. For me, it's over, but I'm really afraid for my children because I don't see how the Lebanon of tomorrow will become ", she continues. If nothing changes, she says, she will push her daughter to leave the country.