“The people demand the fall of the regime,” has been a popular Arabic slogan for the masses across the Arab World who have taken to the streets recently in protest against their oppressive autocracies. Lebanon, however, is unique from other Arab countries in that it does not have one central figure governing the country. Instead, Lebanon has a number of political leaders who all represent one religious sect or another in a complex sectarian political system that the French colonialists helped established in 1943 (Wikipedia entry on the politics of Lebanon).
Today, Lebanese activists called for their own march to topple the regime. The march was held under the slogan, “the people demand the fall of the sectarian regime,” and brought out hundreds of protesters despite heavy rains that flooded the streets. While Lebanon is certainly not Egypt, it was an impressive display of angry Lebanese fed up with the sectarian government which they see as the major impediment to unity and stability in their war-torn country.
The protest started near the site where the 1975-1990 civil war began in the Ain al-Rammaneh neighborhood, and marched down the former “Green Line” in Beirut that separated Muslim West from Christian East.
(image: matthew cassel)
(image: matthew cassel)
The protest moves in front of a building still bearing scars from the civil war (image: matthew cassel)
'the people demand the fall of the sectarian regime' (image: matthew cassel)
(image: matthew cassel)
(image: matthew cassel)
(image: matthew cassel)
(image: matthew cassel)
(image: matthew cassel)