The Free Lebanese Flag

Location: Martyr's Square aka Freedom Square, Beirut
Date: March 12th, 2005 @ 2:00pm
Operation: The Free Lebanese Flag
Tools: 50x35 cm colored cardboards
People: Free Lebanese people

Earlier this week, calls were being made among the Lebanese population in order to make a human Lebanese flag in Freedom Square, Beirut.
I decided to go with some friends to take part of this event.

I got there around 2:00pm, and the area was almost filled by participants.
The red parts of the flag were already full, and a small area of the white part had yet to be filled. The organizers gave us a white cardboard and directed us to the designated area. After some tests, the crowd was ready.

The ceremony started with the national anthem.
Upon the signal, all the participants raised the cardboards to form the Lebanese Flag.
The crowd then called for "sovereignty, freedom and independence".
Green, white and red cardboards were being flipped to their black side when the speaker referred to the Syrian government or its Lebanese representative.
Then, when demanding for independence, the cardboards were flipped again to the colored part and form the Lebanese flag.

Below are some photos of the event. I will post more as soon as I get them.









Links:
1- Turkishpress.com
2- Reuters
3- News24.com

The ZOOM OUT effect

Dear Lebanon

A new term has been added to the Lebanese political jargon : ZOOM OUT.
In order to downsize the estimations of protesters in Lebanon, some politicians are arguing that the cameras are not taking wide shots, and only zooming on smaller groups of people.

Being Lebanese, a synonym of pride, protesters are now defying these politicians by branding "ZOOM OUT" signs in their demonstrations.

Regardless of the actual number of protesters, I believe that at least, with a closeup or ZOOM IN, we can actually see Lebanese people... Unlike the ZOOM OUT of the "1 million person" demonstration held last November.

Shots fired in Beirut

I heard today some stories about provocations and shots fired in Ashrafieh, Beirut on Saturday night.

I searched on the Internet and found those articles:

1- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
2- Fox 2 KASA
3- Naharnet

No political comments are allowed !

UPDATE:
An 18 years old wounded by shots fired on Sunday Night.
Here are the articles:
1- Naharnet
2- The Daily Star
3- IC Wales

UPADATE 2:
Yet other stories of youth being beaten:
1- Naharnet
2- The Daily Star