The Ongoing Spectacle
Mainstream media sources have picked up and run with the story of the opposition protest in direct violation of Interior Minister Franjieh's direct ban on all protests. Local crowd estimates (by no means exhaustive or accurate) stand at about 50,000 with their numbers increasing. The army has all but given up trying to keep away pedestrians trying to gain access to the protests, but the security presence is still massive. The good news is that the proceedings appear very organized and very peaceful, and there is still no sign of a loyalist presence or any noteworthy agitation among the crowd. I hope that my prior fears continue to remain unjustified.
Parliamentary deliberations have begun - there are the usual catcalling, accusations, and public denials about all the he-said-she-said spectacles that have been going on for weeks, but parliament speaker Nabih Berri seems to be keeping everything running smoothly. The confidence vote will be held after every parliament member has been given the opportunity to speak, with no time limit for each person. Hence, the vote could be days from now if everyone starts getting long-winded.
Update: As of 1:45 pm, LBC reports that the crowd has swelled past the 200,000 mark - for those readers interested in statistics. I add my usual caveat that this number is neither accurate nor exhaustive - the actual number could be far greater. The important thing to remember is that this is happening in spite of extensive measures to prohibit protesters from reaching the site.
posted by Unfrozen Caveman Linguist @ 5:22 AM
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5 Comments:
Caveman,
I've got a lot of work to do today, so I cannot keep up with the news. It truly is fantastic that you are providing play-by-play coverage (to go with the sports metaphors).
Reading some of the other comments, I have to say I agree that you are providing the best coverage anywhere. The news is pretty mediocre, outside of the Lebanese media. But of course, LBC does not synthesize and analyze what Future and New TV are saying. You really are providing great analysis.
You are right to say that the region of origin of soldiers would not contribute to violence. That seems to be a sectarian ploy.
It would be fantastic if the underlings in the state apparatus bring it down, but do you think a Yugoslavia style revolution will happen in Lebanon? Aren't too many body guards directly loyal to the za'im for both their jobs and their family livelyhood? Think of Berri's massive number of patronage jobs in the government. Doesn't this make them more likely to try to keep him in his position, but push him to be more evenhanded. If anyone has conducted themselves well after the bombing, Berri has. He was the only government official at the funeral, and he is not making Parliament today into the shenanigans he normally orchestrates.
By the way, classes were not officially cancelled at AUB today (unlike LAU and IC), but they are de facto cancelled because few students have shown up.
Many Mustaqbal student leaders decided not to go to the protests and the Ishtirakiyya youth leaders told people to go to class, but students are turning out anyway. It is pretty incredible, especially because so many people feared violence.
It seems like my well-placed Ishtirakiyya friend was right about no violence happening and businesses not closing. Hopefully, the lack of violence will continue to be true. And I should note that all of the businesses that are open have the radio or TV tuned to what is going on in Parliament and with the protests.
As an aside, I think Syria giving up Saddam's half-brother is not going to win them any sway with America right now. It just confirms the suspicions of the neo-cons that Syria was the base for the Baathist and Islamist insurgency. The State Department and France are not going to forget about Hariri. And Israel will not let Congress forget that it was Islamic Jihad in Beirut that claimed responsibility for the Tel Aviv bombing and that the Palestinians blamed Hezbollah. If Syria had given over the Baathists earlier, they might have gained something. But now one can only suspect that they have even more Baathists, are still backing anti-Israeli citizen terrorists, and are making a ploy to direct attention away from Lebanon.
Instead of pushing the critical mass of domestic and international opinion out of Beirut, they have now caused all guns to point at Damascus.
Mountain Man
Moutain Man,
Thanks for the input - this is great info you are providing, and I hope that others are reading it. As for other bloggers out there, Publius Pundit is doing a real bang-up job with putting together blogs and mainstream media. Check him out: http://www.publiuspundit.com/?p=537
As for the issue with Saddam's half-brother - that's a simple case of far-too-little, far-too-late. It just goes to show the intrasigence that is built into the Baath mindset - not to offer serious terms for negotiation until their side is already bankrupt. How stupid.
Leila at Dove's Eye View here. I'll politely pass over your comment about the "freaking relatives", since of course I am one...haven't checked naharnet yet but do link to them. At least they tell you there *are* demonstrations; nobody else does.
Your eyewitness reports are very helpful and the Dove is telling everybody to keep checking Bliss Street. Whatever detail you want to add, please do. Thanks again.
(The Dove is a "freaking relative" but also the daughter of 1 AUB alum and 1 retired AUB professor - hope that makes me eligible to use up Naharnet's bandwidth in your humble opinion - just teasing ya, Caveman)
My hometown newspaper, the Kansas City Star did not even carry a story about the potential clash between the peaceful protesters and the government in Lebanon. Not a word this morning, Monday, February 27, 2005.Disgusting.
thank you for the info. the M.S.M. seems to care more about what the terrorist do.
Hopefully there will be a free, independent and peaceful Lebanon.
Is there anything going on in Kurdish parts of Syria?
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