LBN11061

On 30 Apr 16, at 1600hrs, activists called for a sit-in to protest against the violent clashes in Aleppo-Syrian resulting the death of civilians in front of Samir Kassir Garden-Downtown Beirut. https://www.facebook.com/events/237300533299245/

On 28 Feb 16, the student department of the Lebanese Phalanges Party marched from Saifi to the government's headquarters and the Council for Reconstruction and Development to condemn the authorities' failure to resolve the waste management crisis that has been running since last summer. The students also staged a sit in outside the Grand Serail, amid strict security measures by anti-riot police. They demanded the resignation of CDR Chief Nabil al-Jisr if he does not want to perform his duties.

نظّمت حملة «الشعب يريد إصلاح النظام» اعتصاما في ساحة رياض الصلح، مقابل مبنى الإسكوا، تزامنا مع زيارة الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة بان كي مون.
http://aliwaa.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=280197

Demonstrators and security forces scuffled outside the environment ministry in Beirut on Thursday after several civil society activists stormed the building to protest the authorities' failure to resolve the waste problem. Anti-riot police pushed back “We Want Accountability” and “You Stink” protesters who called for more transparency on a plan to export Lebanon's garbage. The protest was held after around 15 members of the two groups entered the Azarieh building in downtown Beirut and sat on the floor, clapping and shouting slogans against the authorities for failing to resolve the seven-month waste problem. The 15 protesters were later arrested by police along with three demonstrators who intercepted the vehicle that was carrying the detainees outside the building. The eighteen activists were taken for questioning, according to an Internal Security Forces statement. Two protesters and two policemen were injured in the scuffles, the ISF said.

Families of the Lebanese servicemen held hostage on the northeastern border held a gathering Monday in solidarity with Palestinians, who have been rising up against Israeli occupation since the beginning of the month.

The gathering was organized by the hostage families and the Lebanese-Palestinian Youth Gathering in Downtown Beirut’s Riad al-Solh Square.
“We have waited long enough, and the pain (of waiting) has killed us... Bring back the soldiers who are the honor of this nation, because the state’s prestige will not return unless our sons do,” said Khalil Shadad, a spokesperson for the families.
"Our brothers, just by standing with us in our demand, a rightful demand, a demand of pride and honor, means that we are stronger in saying the truth and with you," he added, addressing the Palestinians.
"We challenge the falsehood and with you we challenge all of those who allowed themselves to play with the blood of our sons, and the blood of your sons.”

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Oct-19/319439-lebanon...

Civil society activists held sit-ins near the military tribunal in the Mathaf area and the Interior Ministry in Sanayeh on Friday to call for the release of those detained during a protest they held a day earlier in downtown Beirut.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/191610

Activists from “We Want Accountability” movement and security forces clashed on Tuesday near the Energy Ministry after the protesters blocked one of the facility's entrances.
Ministry employees told them that the ministry is a red line, refusing to remain trapped in their offices in Beirut's Corniche al-Nahr area.
But the demonstrators stressed they want accountability, saying their intention is not to ransack the ministry.
The clash caused the glass door of the entrance to be broken.
“We are not here to break anything,” said one of the protesters, adding that a policeman broke the glass after he tried to block the entrance.
“We will hold more protests but we will not say where,” he told MTV.
“I am here today to tell Lebanese officials that we will hold them accountable,” said another protester.
“We can no longer pay two bills,” she said.
Lebanon suffers from severe power cuts and the people purchase electricity from private individuals or firms having generators.
After the Naameh landfill closed in July, trash piled up in the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon leading to mass demonstrations against the country's entire political class and its failure to provide basic services.
The protests have been organized by the “You Stink” movement, “We Want Accountability” and other civil society activists.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/190810-activists-police-clash-near-en...

More than 1,000 people marched Sunday from the eastern Beirut suburb of Burj Hammoud to the capital's Central District in a largely peaceful demonstration against Lebanon's political elite and to call for sustainable solutions to the country's two-month-old garbage crisis.
But another couple hundred protesters had gathered in Martyr's Square in Downtown Beirut awaiting the arrival of the marchers when scuffles erupted between them and supporters of Speaker Nabih Berri. The Berri partisans confronted protesters who erected a banner with the faces of the speaker, Future Movement leader Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblatt that accused them of corruption and theft.
Berri supporters beat one of the protesters with the microphone he was using and removed his t-shirt. Minutes later a group of them struck at the crowd of protesters with their fists. Police initially did not intervene, but later said in a statement that one man was detained over the scuffle.
Later in the day, a number of people were moved to hospitals after being stabbed and punched by Berri supporters, who threatened journalists with knives and attacked those who tried to film or take photographs.
Among those wounded and transferred to the hospital was reporter Osama al-Kadiri.
The demonstration, called for by You Stink and supported by a number of the movement's offshoot groups, had planned to end with a gathering inside Downtown Beirut's Nejmeh Square, where the Parliament is located.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Sep-20/315968-scuffle...

Security forces detained at least 38 activists Wednesday from crowds attempting to gain entrance to Beirut's Nejmeh Square, where politicians launched the second round of national dialogue talks at the Parliament.
At least 11 others were moved to hospitals suffering from injuries, according to activists, after riot police were seen dispersing protesters using batons, dragging a number of them by their hair and kicking them while on the ground. Three young men who had been on hunger strike for two weeks were among those detained, including Waref Sleiman, who was the first to go on hunger strike.
Activists called for a protest outside al-Helou Barrack in Mar Elias Street to demand the immediate release of those detained.
The entrances of Nejmeh Square, where the Parliament is located, were blocked to pedestrians unless they were carrying business cards for companies and offices operating within the security perimeter.
The road leading to the offices of An-Nahar newspaper near Martyrs' Square was also closed, in addition to the streets housing the Beirut Souks and Beirut's naval base.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Sep-16/315429-heavy-s...

Civil society activists held a protest near the finance ministry in Beirut on Tuesday to stop the transfer of the salaries of lawmakers whom they accuse of being corrupt.

Police immediately deployed in the area to stop the protesters from entering the building similar to when demonstrators stormed the environment ministry earlier this month to demand the minister's resignation.

The activists from “We Want Accountability” and "Go Away" also protested when two of the movement's members were unable to leave the building after police blocked the entrance.
Beirut police chief Brig. Bassam al-Ayyoubi was quick to arrive to the scene of the protest.
He accused the activists of trying to storm the ministry but said security forces stopped them form entering the building.
“We had to resort to the streets to hold MPs accountable. They are not doing their job,” said one demonstrator.
“Our protest is peaceful,” he added.
"Our presence here is symbolic,” said another protester. "We will continue to hold similar protests. Our path is long."

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/189824-protest-outside-finance-minist...

On 14 Sep 15, at around 2000hrs, citizens marched from the Martyr’s square towards the Ministry of Environment in support of the hunger strikers.

http://www.elnashra.com/news/show/912226/مسيرة-شموع-بساحة-الشهداءتضامنا-المضربين-الطعام-اما

Several thousand protesters poured into Downtown Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square Wednesday despite a sandstorm to participate in the latest demonstration by the You Stink campaign against the political class and the garbage crisis.
Crowds coming from different areas of the country, including Tripoli, Akkar, Mount Lebanon and Sidon, arrived at the square hours after politicians held a national dialogue session that ended with no breakthroughs or viable solutions to the ongoing domestic crises.
Activists from Lebanon’s different districts made one-minute speeches on the different environmental problems plaguing their areas.
“In Tripoli, we have a garbage dump with an altitude that exceeds 35 meters in altitude, we have an unemployment rate of 75 percent and 70 percent among our youth,” an activist from the northern city said. “I call on all Tripoli residents to unite because the politicians do not represent us.”
Ali Qanso, who hails from the southern district of Nabatieh, said his area had a waste treatment plant but it is not operational because of political corruption. He said a number of illegal garbage dumps have spread in Nabatieh, creating foul odors and toxic emissions.
A representative from Akkar is Not a Dump, a recent campaign against a plan to create a garbage dump in the northern district, addressed MPs representing the area saying: “None of you represents us. We are the people of Akkar, we have our own word and we have dignity.”
“Iqlim al-Kharoub (an area in Mount Lebanon) is not anymore an emirate in the hand of one feudal lord or capitalist,” said an activist from the village of Barja, whose residents held several protests against creating a garbage dump in their area.
He said a large number of women from Barja suffer from breast cancer because of the illegal dumping of toxic waster in the area.
Security forces limited the protest to Martyrs' Square and prevented demonstrators from reaching Riad al-Solh Square, which is closer to the Parliament where the dialogue was held hours earlier.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Sep-09/314596-thousan...

Thousands of Free Patriotic Movement supporters gathered in Martyrs' Square in Downtown Beirut Friday for a massive demonstration aiming at exerting political pressure on the government to accede to the party's demands.
Hundreds of cars converged on the capital’s Central District, carrying supporters waving the party’s orange flags. A large stage, screen and sound system had been placed in the square in preparation for the anticipated day.
The event included a number of performances by artists including Zein el-Omr, who made a passionate speech hailing the group's founder Michel Aoun, saying he does not only represent "a Zai'm (leader), but also a nation, a people."
Demonstrators carried pictures of Aoun and banners praising him.
“At your service, oh General,” one large banner read.
“We dream of a free president, a legal parliament that does not extend its own term, deputies that represent the people and a judiciary that protects its nation," said Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who has recently won the party's presidency by acclamation, using a rhetoric inspired by Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech.
“We want a just media, around the clock electricity and water, transportation systems, telecommunication services and social security for seniors.”
“Our dream will win over the nightmares,” Bassil added addressing the crowds, emphasizing that his party “will not alienate Muslims, but will also not accept the alienation of Christians.”
He promised that he would seek the “return of all the refugees and displaced people to their homelands, so that Lebanon survives.”
“The FPM is gathered today in Martyrs' Square, but we will soon exhort its supporters to join us in the popular square of Baabda,” he said, implying that his party would soon be celebrating the appointment party leader Michel Aoun as president.
Aoun also made a brief speech from his residence in Rabieh that was televised for the crowd.
“I am proud of you today, like I was yesterday and I will be tomorrow,” Aoun told protesters, describing the demonstration as a “gathering of glory.”
“I hope this will be the beginning of [a pathway toward] reforming our country and bringing it back to its glorious past.”

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Sep-04/313999-fpm-sup...

Security forces are trying to disperse the demonstrators in front of the Ministry of Environment, and arrested two persons who tossed firecrackers at security men, NNA Correspondent reported on Tuesday.

Security forces announced on Sunday that ten people were arrested following Saturday's civil society protest that took a violent turn as night set in.
The Internal Security Forces said that investigations are underway with the detainees in connection with the rioting that erupted at the end of the peaceful rally.
They added that two of their members were slightly wounded in the scuffles. The unrest broke out in Beirut's Riad al-Solh Square. Earlier on Saturday, the “You Stink” civil society activists staged a huge protest against the current political deadlock in the country and officials' ongoing failure to resolve a waste management crisis that erupted in July. The crisis started when the Naameh landfill was closed amid a failure to find an alternative which led to the piling up of garbage on streets throughout the country.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/188672-10-arrested-after-saturday-ral...

Prime Minister Tammam Salam gave instructions on Tuesday to remove a concrete wall installed by the authorities in downtown Beirut a day after violent protests.
The wall was erected on Monday at Riad al-Solh Square near the Grand Serail after large violent anti-government protests shook the area on Sunday. Following Salam's decisions, several protesters were seen climbing and sitting on the wall holding Lebanese flags. The wall's erection had drawn sharp criticism with graffiti artists converging on the area to express their resentment to government inaction. The artists were quick to draw graffiti satirizing political parties and accusing politicians of being “monsters behind the wall.” Some social media activists likened it to the Berlin Wall and others to the separation barrier built by Israel in the West Bank.
Some dubbed it a wall of shame.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/188274

Fresh violence erupted between security forces and protesters in Downtown Beirut Tuesday night as the Free Patriotic Movement’s ministers and their allies withdrew from a Cabinet session over partnership, throwing the government into further disarray. The Cabinet rejected during an extraordinary session earlier in the day the results of the call for tenders that Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk had announced Monday to manage Lebanon’s waste, saying the prices were too high, but it approved $100 million of investments in Akkar as an incentive to establish a large garbage dump in the northern district. Security forces scuffled with protesters in Downtown Beirut and arrested a number of them as hundreds of activists continued their sit-in in Riad al-Solh Square to denounce the government’s policies and its failure to resolve the trash crisis, demanding its resignation. Riot police used batons to beat back protesters who crossed a barbed wire barrier near the Grand Serail hours after authorities, on Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s orders, removed a giant concrete blast wall that had been erected a day earlier at the same location. The Lebanese Red Cross said it transported at least seven injured people to hospitals. Protesters smashed some shop fronts on Banks Street and broke advertisement billboards in Riad al-Solh Square, the National News Agency reported. Dozens of police pushed back protesters and chased them away from surrounding streets. One man was bleeding from his head after being struck with a police baton, and a woman was wailing after she said police struck her arm.

Several hundred people gathered in Downtown Beirut Monday in honor of those wounded during weekend clashes with security forces and to demand authorities be held accountable for police violence. But the gathering was not a protest officially called on by the You Stink group, which organized Saturday and Sunday's evening rallies at Riad al-Solh Square. Rather, the citizens who gathered in the square Monday appeared to have gone on their own initiatives, and it was unclear if the rioters who stirred violence at Sunday's rally would attempt to return. You Stink wrote on its Facebook page that its supporters would gather at Riad al-Solh at 7:30 for a candlelight vigil, but the gathering did not resemble the massive protests that descended into violence over the weekend in which they demanded the government's resignation. "We do not want to topple the government, nor are we calling for parliamentary elections. We just want electricity, water and to live in a clean environment," one man told Al-Manar TV from the protest square, in a dramatic shift of demands heard the previous two nights. Another man had his head wrapped in a bandage, telling reporters that he was wounded during Sunday's protest. He said his injury did not deter him from returning. "As much as they try to scare us, they [will fail]," said another man.

The Internal Security Forces said police arrested 32 "rioters" after clashes with anti-government protesters in Downtown Beirut Sunday left 99 policemen wounded. An ISF statement also acknowledged that several protesters were wounded in the confrontation with police in Riad al-Solh in Downtown. “The ISF regrets the events that accompanied the Beirut action, and confirms that its task is to protect the right to peaceful demonstration of citizens who do not resort to the use of violence or attack public and private property," the statement said. The Lebanese Red Cross said a total of 402 people were hurt during the clashes that broke out Saturday.

On 22 Aug 15, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of anti-garbage demonstrators in downtown Beirut's Riad al-Solh square and to stop them from moving towards the nearby Nejmeh Square. The protesters said, however, they were adamant to stay in Riad al-Solh Square and urged all the Lebanese people to join them. The demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans to pressure the authorities to resolve the country's growing waste crisis. The protesters were seeking to march towards the parliament in Nejmeh Square but security forces had put barricades to prevent them from reaching the legislature.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/188097-anti-garbage-protesters-call-f...

Employees of the Beirut Port held a sit-in on Thursday protesting an alleged government decision to use a nearby real estate as a dump site. MTV said that more than 100 employees staged the sit-in and prevented trucks transporting goods from entering the port causing long queues at the Port entrance. Reports have said that a decision was made to use block AB in the Port as a dump site for the waste that has been accumulating in several areas. Head of the Union of Beirut Port Employees Beshara al-Asmar told LBCI: “Today's move is only a warning against dumping wastes in the Port's vicinity.” “We will not accept the capital's trash to be accumulated in the Port. Moreover it will affect the employees' health,” warning of escalatory measures. In July, a waste-management crisis swept through the capital and Mount Lebanon after the closure of the Naameh landfill that received trash from the said areas.

“You Stink" campaign activists held a protest in downtown Beirut on Saturday to shed light on the country's ongoing waste management crisis and to pour their anger on officials for failing to find a solution to the problem. The demonstrators, who gathered in Martyrs Square, criticized the authorities for lacking the ability to resolve the garbage crisis that erupted when the landfill in the town of Naameh, south of Beirut, was closed on July 17. The sweltering heat and the stinking, rotting garbage in Beirut and Mount Lebanon provoked the outcry from the activists who said the officials should be held accountable. They called for the resignation of Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq and shouted “the people want to bring down the regime.”

Dozens of protesters rallied Wednesday outside the Beirut Justice Palace to demand the release of Tarek al-Mallah, who is accused of attacking Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas’ car during an anti-trash demonstration one day earlier.

“Tarek was speaking for all of us,” a protester said from the Justice Palace. “His anger reflects the people’s current mood of anger in the country over the trash crisis.” Mallah was arrested Tuesday hours after he allegedly attacked Derbas as the minister was traveling in his car near the Interior Ministry on Spears Street in Hamra.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Jul-29/308792-protest...

Two cars went ablaze Monday evening in the Beirut area of Karakol al-Druze and several citizens suffered suffocation after young men set fire to trash dumpsters to protest the accumulation of garbage on the streets, state-run National News Agency reported.
A vehicle from the Beirut Fire Brigade has since arrived at the scene to put out the flames, NNA said. Angry protesters also blocked roads with burning trash dumpsters in the Salim Salam, Beshara al-Khoury and Mar Elias districts.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/185809-cars-go-up-in-flames-as-protes...

Dozens of angry citizens blocked a major road near Downtown Beirut with burning garbage Friday to protest the government's failure to remove the giant mounds of trash that have gone uncollected over the past week. Traffic ground to a halt when about 50 people moved trash from the sides of streets onto Beshara Khoury Boulevard and set fire to it, sending a putrid odor across the area. They also set fire to garbage on side streets.
The residents were described by one witness as “violent” and “aggressive.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Jul-24/308178-furious...

On 01 Jun 15, ISF reported that a number of people on charges of committing criminal acts were arrested as follows: - Sixteen people on the offense of fraud and falsifying documents to facilitate the movement of people from Lebanon to European, Asian and African countries operations.
One Person on the offense of rape and kidnapping. All the detainees have been referred to court after the end of the investigation.
http://www.lebanondebate.com/details.aspx?id=206246i

On 30 May 15, hundreds of protesters marched in Beirut demanding greater protections for victims of domestic violence. Activists, civil society groups and media personnel rallied in front of the National Museum at 1400hrs, marching towards the Justice Ministry. Relatives and friends of female victims of domestic abuse carried out posters that featured pictures of the victim, the date of the crime, the man accused and his judicial status. The demonstration was organized almost two weeks after Sara al-Amin, the latest victim in an ongoing epidemic of violence against women, was shot dead by her husband.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/May-30/299892-protest...

NNA - The Lebanese Army on Friday arrested 47 Syrian individuals for illegally entering Lebanese territories and over links to terrorist organizations, a Lebanese Army communiqué said.

On 30 Apr 15, hundreds of Palestinian nationals demonstrated in Downtown - Beirut against Lebanon's decades-old employment restrictions. The protestors demanded an end to discrimination against Palestinians in the Lebanese job market since the Lebanese labor law largely confines Palestinians to work in agriculture and construction industries.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Apr-30/296402-palesti...

A terror suspect with links to Abdullah Azzam Brigades emir Sirajeddine Zureiqat has been arrested by Lebanese security forces, according to a report published Wednesday by Al-Akhbar.
The suspect, who was identified by his initials Y.A, is currently being held by the ISF’s Information Branch and has confessed to his relationship with Zureiqat, according to the report.
The suspect has also confessed to transporting Zueiqat from the Bekaa Valley to the Syrian Qalamoun region, where he is said to be currently residing.
The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Lebanon's Al-Qaeda affiliate, have claimed responsibility for two suicide attacks in Beirut, including the Iranian embassy twin bombing last year that killed about 30 people, and a twin blast at the Iranian cultural center in February.

Lebanon’s Military Court has issued an arrest warrant and a death sentence against Zureiqat in absentia.

Like other jihadi groups, the Abdullah Azzam brigades have justified their attacks in Lebanon by pointing to Hezbollah's intervention in the Syrian conflict on the side of government forces.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Mar-25/292102-isf-det...

NB: Please note that the report did not mention a specific location for this security incident.

On 13 Mar 15, Beirut police headquarters stopped 12 Lebanese and one Palestinian over various crimes and booked 19 motorcycles and 15 cars.
http://nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/show-news/147285/12-19-15
NB: Please note that the report did not mention a specific location for this security incident.

An attempt to smuggle 150,000 captagon pills to Saudi Arabia was thwarted recently through cooperation between authorities from Lebanon and the kingdom, the Internal Security Forces announced in a statement on Friday.

It said that the pills were concealed in paintings, packed, and then shipped by mail to Saudi Arabia.

Upon their arrival in the kingdom, Saudi police arrested three people who had showed up to receive them.

Their accomplice in Lebanon, identified as A.M., was also arrested, said that central anti-drug bureau in the judicial police department.

Each pill is estimated to cost $20 dollars, placing the price of the entire shipment at around $3 million.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/170352-security-forces-thwart-attempt...

On 21 Feb 15, ISF arrested ten Lebanese nationals and one Syrian national, wanted for various crimes and booked 11 motorcycles and 15 car for violation.

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/show-news/143635/
*No location specified
NB: Please note that the report did not mention a specific location for this security incident.

On 01 Feb 15, at 1330hrs, in Riad el Solh Square, a national sit-in is scheduled to place to protest the high prices and to reject the insult of citizens.

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/show-news/139748

On 11 Jan 15, Journalists and officials joined a solidarity sit-in in downtown Beirut that was scheduled to coincide with a historic anti-terror march in Paris. Carrying banners expressing support for the victims of the deadly attack on French weekly Charlie Hebdo, foreign ambassadors and Lebanese journalists flocked to the Samir Kassir Square in central Beirut. The symbolic rally was organized by the Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, which was founded two years after the 2005 assassination of Lebanese journalist and historian Samir Kassir. Information Minister Ramzi Jreij, Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri, EU ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst, lawmakers and March 14 figures were all present at the sit-in.
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/162526-beirut-holds-solidarity-sit-in...

The Traffic Management Center said on Friday that 3 people died and 17 people got injured in 9 car accidents within the last 24 hours.
http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/38640/TMC-killed-17-injured-in-ro...

A year ago, on December 9, four Syrian activists were kidnapped in the town of Douma, near the Syrian capital, allegedly by the armed opposition group Army of Islam. In commemoration of that event, a global campaign was launched to highlight the plight of these four. In Lebanon, the campaign was widened to include hundreds of thousands of political prisoners held across the region in the hands of governments and armed factions.

”[T]hey [the Douma4] represent the Syrian people empowered, aware of their strength when they act collectively, and above all they show that the people refuse any form of submission to authoritarianism.” – Joseph Daher, leftist academic On December 9, 2013, masked armed men burst into the offices of the Violations Documentation Center (VDC), an independent NGO that documents human rights violations in Syria by the Syrian regime and armed opposition groups. Four people were promptly whisked away to an unknown location. The four are: Razane Zaitouneh, her husband Wael Hamadeh, and their two colleagues, Samira Khalil, and Nazem Hammadi.
Zaitouneh, Hamadeh, Khalil, and Hammadi each have a long history in activism and struggle against the repressive Syrian state.

On her part, Zaitouneh is a well known Syrian human rights lawyer who was predominately concerned with defending the rights of political prisoners since 2001. She played a role in founding the Human Rights Association in Syria and the Syrian Human Rights Information Link, both of which caught the attention of authorities who banned her from traveling out of the country in early 2002. When the Syrian uprising began, she played a role in establishing the Local Coordination Committee (LCC) and the VDC, as well as other projects related to providing basic needs and essential services to areas that were besieged by violence.

Her husband, Hamadeh, is a human rights activist who opposed the regime years before the Syrian uprising began in 2011. Once the uprising started, Hamadeh was detained twice by the regime for his membership and work with the LCC and other organizations.

The third person, Khalil, wife of Syrian intellectual Yassin Hajj Saleh, had a long history struggling for political change in Syria that resulted in her imprisonment for four years under Hafez al-Assad's rule. She participated in the Damascus Declaration, a 5-page document created in 2005 that demanded peaceful reform, and was involved with a number of organizations related to human and political rights in Syria.

The final person, Hammadi, is a Syrian lawyer and poet, who worked within the LCC and provided aid to Syrians internally displaced from the violence.

The kidnapping is suspected to have been conducted by members of the armed opposition group, Army of Islam, established by Zahran Alloush – son of a Saudi-based religious scholar – that operates chiefly in the neighborhoods of Douma and Eastern Ghouta. Many suspect that the abduction was carried out do to the VDC's criticisms and documentation of violations by the Army of Islam in the area.

As Joseph Daher, a Syrian-Swiss leftist academic and activist, noted for Open Democracy, “The main reason behind the abduction is that these activists represent a threat to some groups, just as they do to the Assad regime. They represent the Syrian people empowered, aware of their strength when they act collectively, and above all they show that the people refuse any form of submission to authoritarianism.”

The plight of the Douma4, as they have been dubbed, has been lingering to date. Despite the prominence of Zaitouneh among the international human rights arena, there has been no tangible attempts by neither nations, international organizations, political Syrian opposition groups, nor the Syrian regime to seek their release. For its part, human rights organizations drafted an open letter that was released on Tuesday to reassert the importance of the matter.

Ultimately, the Douma4, like many others, are left in the mercy of the unknown.

In an attempt to spotlight their continued abduction over the course of the year, a global campaign was launched by various Syrian activists and their supporters, under the slogan of “The Kidnapper of a Revolutionary is a Traitor.”

For Lebanon, around 30 activists gathered Tuesday evening in downtown Beirut, at the Gibran Khalil Gibran Garden facing the ESCWA headquarters.

The demonstration here was mainly organized by the Socialist Forum, and a statement was drafted and signed by seven other organizations like the feminist Sawt al-Inswah, Beirut Walls, Syria Untold, and the Female Syrian Journalist Network.

Unlike other protests world-wide – such as in Ireland, Greece, Holland, and in Syria – that concentrated solely on the Douma4, the protest in Beirut expanded the call to include the estimated 70,000 to 100,000 Syrians in the prisons of the Syrian regime, the 17,000 Lebanese missing since the end of the civil war, the ongoing issue of the abducted Lebanese soldiers and policemen, and the thousands upon thousands of political prisoners in Palestine, Bahrain, Egypt, and elsewhere.

Slogans, banners, and chants at the modest protest was critical of the Syrian armed opposition groups, but also Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Syrian regime, the Lebanese state, sectarianism, racism, and oppression.

“We consider both the Syrian regime and the armed opposition groups counter-revolutionary,”said Farah Kobaissy, a member of the Socialist Forum who participated in Tuesday's protest.

“The kidnapped, like Razane, and Wael, and the rest, follow revolutionary principles within their work that others are trying to erase. This demonstration is to support the kidnapped and those abducted, whether they are Lebanese in the hands of ISIS or Syrians in the hands of the Syrian regime, because they are all part and parcel of the same struggle, a battle that all the people of the region are involved in for real freedoms and democracies and actual changes.”

”[O]ur mobilization doesn't stop with Syria, it also calls for the immediately release of political prisoners in Bahrain, Saudi, or in Sisi's prisons in Egypt. All these people are part of the same struggle.” – Farah Kobaissy, Socialist Forum member“Supporting the [Douma4], is to support the Syrian revolution and is supporting the revolutions in the region. Our mobilization doesn't stop with Syria, it also calls for the immediately release of political prisoners in Bahrain, Saudi, or in Sisi's prisons in Egypt. All these people are part of the same struggle,” she said.
“Most importantly, the protest today is trying to tie together the politics between the families of the [Syrians] abducted [by Army of Islam] to those in Lebanon were kidnapped by militias like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra. They are all connected together. Our enemy is the same enemy,” she added.

Indeed, the power and potency of solidarity across communities is often ignored in many similar campaigns, and a holistic discourse that ties together various forms of oppression is far from the absolutist discourses and narratives found prevalent the mainstream. One of the core aims of the protest is a desire to proliferate the concept of inter-sectional solidarity, especially in matters like Syria that continues to be utterly divisive.

The organizers and participants are aware of the immense obstacles and undertaking required to further their cause.

“Who are we directing this campaign to tonight?” Camil Dagher, lawyer and member of Socialist Forum, rhetorically asked during a brief speech. “Who are we demanding to stand against the kidnapping and to liberate all the kidnapped in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and the rest of the Arab region?”

“The issue demands that we self-reflect completely with what's happening, and with the mobilizations against the status quo today,” he added. “There will be no ability to free all those kidnapped today without combining with a larger mass movement, whether in Syria, or Lebanon, or in Iraq. This movement has to be built, and this is a demand of the revolutionary left. And if this does not happen, all our campaigns and mobilizations will be illegitimate and fail.”

While Tuesday’s protest was symbolic, organizers and participants were adamant that they will continue to build networks, pursue acts of solidarity, and circulate discourses that challenge narratives pushed forward by those in power. Their goal “to liberate everyone” will be dependent on the strength of these solidarity networks, their ability to connect with the public-at-large, and on how violent the state and elites’ responses will be.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/%E2%80%98douma4%E2%80%99-kidnapped-...

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE24/051/2014/ar/24c666a0-9d06-...

The families of abducted soldiers cut-off the road leading to Annahar newspaper in downtown Beirut on Saturday.

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/37468/Families-of-abducted-soldie...

The Lebanese Army Intelligence Services arrested on Tuesday Darwish Mallah, who is a fugitive and supporter of Salafist Sheikh Ahmad el Assir, the NNA correspondent reported.

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/36915/LAF-Intelligence-arrests-Sh...
*No specific location reported.

The families of the abducted Lebanese soldiers, held hostage by islamists of the al-Nosra Front and the Islamic State since the beginning of August, have burnt tires on Riad el-Solh square in the center of Beirut on Monday to call for the liberation of the soldiers.
On Monday, the Islamic State reiterated its threats of beheading 7 Lebanese soldiers if the Lebanese authorities did not cancel the condemnation of 5 islamists held in Roumieh, according to several local media.
The brother of the held soldier Ibrahim Mougheit told the LBCI that on Monday morning, the Islamic State had reiterated its threats in phone calls to the families. "They are giving us two hours to cancel the condemnation of 5 islamists from Fateh el-Islam. Otherwise, a video of beheadings will be diffused", said the brother of one of the thirty soldiers abducted at the beginning of August in Ersal.
http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/896461/militaires-enleves-les-famil...

The families of the Lebanese military men held hostage by the islamists from al-Nosra front and the Islamic State decided on Monday to block "all the roads in Beirut", as part of a strategy to obtain the immediate liberation of their relatives.
"Many roads will be cut, we will not tell you which ones, but the escalation is starting right now until the Lebanese State cancels the charges against the islamists", declared a relative of the hostages.

http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/896465/militaires-enleves-les-famil...

A force from the riot police closed a while ago the maritime road in front of the parliament to prevent protesters of the Civil Activists Movement from heading towards Nejmeh Square.
The step aimed at preventing protestors from marching towards the house of parliament.

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/35908/Riot-police-blocks-road-in-...

The Civil Movement for Accountability staged Tuesday evening a sit-in at Riyadh el-Solh Square in Beirut's Central District, in protest against extending the Parliament Council's mandate, on the eve of holding the Parliamentary session scheduled for this purpose.
Protesters placed 4 tents at the "Place de l'Etoile" in downtown Beirut in preparation for their organized moves on Wednesday in parallel with the session's timing.
Movement Member, Rida Hasan, said that "escalating measures shall be adopted tomorrow against holding the humiliation meeting," referring to Wednesday's Parliamentary session.
Hasan also disclosed that another sit-in will take place Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. nearby "An-Nahar" daily newspaper's building premises in Central Beirut, in order to prevent deputies from arriving at the House of Parliament to attend the meeting.

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/35881/Sitin-by-Civil-Movement-for...

A large group of families of the abducted soldiers joined the sit-in at Riad Solh Square and a third tent was set up.
He pointed out that the father of soldier Hussein Youssef had received a call from one of the elements of ISIS who told him "3 days are left before you lose your children, and we will be contacting all the parents to tell them so."

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/34491/Father-of-soldier-Mohammad-...

Security forces carried out on Saturday a thorough inspection of the souk known as Sunday Market (Souk el Ahad) and checked the identities and legal status of foreigners present there. This inspection comes as part of preventative measures taken to protect the country of any terrorist attack.

A number of people who had no identification papers on them were arrested.

NNA reporters said the inspection caused traffic in the region of Hayek-Sin el Fil- Fiat.

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/28658/Security-forces-inspect-Sun...

Raid operations are still on the go in the Beirut region of Hamra, where at least 30 suspects, who had entered Lebanon with Arab passports, have been as yet arrested, National News Agency correspondent reported on Friday.

Information said that these terrorist groups were planning a huge attack during a celebration that was scheduled to take place today before noon at UNESCO Palace, by reaching the event location via unsuspicious means.

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/28604/At-least-30-arrested-in-Ham...

Security forces arrested at a hotel in Hamra 12 people suspected of belonging to terrorist groups who have entered Lebanon in a bid to carry out terrorist acts.

Our correspondent pointed out that investigations were underway with the arrestees.

A joint force of the Information Branch and the General Security had raided the hotel in Hamra after receiving information about the presence of a dangerous wanted person inside.

http://www.nna-leb.gov.lb/en/show-news/28581/Security-Forces-arrest-12-s...

The Syrian Army heavily shelled residential areas in West Beirut (namely Sanayeh and Hamra) and the Palestinian camps, at a rate of one bomb every six minutes. At least 78 people were killed, 147 wounded, and 12 bodies were found in downtown Beirut.

On December 8, 1975, in retaliation for Black Saturday, the Murabitun, Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), and Palestinian militias launched an attack against the Kataeb in downtown Beirut and the hotel district. The hotel district battle flared up again in March 1976, when the pro-Palestinian Lebanese militias drove out the Kataeb from there and also in Ain al-Mreisseh.