Collective Action

Lebanese demonstrators blocked key roads around the country on Monday after a weekend of mass rallies confirmed that political promises had failed to extinguish the unprecedented protest movement.

In a now almost daily game of cat-and-mouse with riot police, increasingly organised protesters erected temporary road blocks using dumpsters and parked vehicles.

In the capital Beirut, they sat cross-legged on a key flyover and gathered near the Central Bank, which protesters blame for fuelling Lebanon's economic crisis.

Schools had been due to reopen on Monday after weeks of sporadic closures, but some remained shuttered as much of the country remained on partial lockdown for a third Monday.

Unprecedented cross-sectarian demonstrations have gripped Lebanon since October 17, demanding a complete overhaul of a political system deemed inefficient and corrupt.

As many universities have decided to open their doors on the 19th day of Lebanon’s revolution, many students have called for protests against this decision.

Since the wave of protests were quite calm after the government’s resignation, many universities such as the Lebanese American University, the American University of Beirut, the American University of Sciences and Technology, Saint Joseph University and the Lebanese University issued a decision to resume classes on Monday November 4. And with this decision came the opposition of students.

Many students from LAU and AUB gathered at the universities’ main gates and had a peaceful sit-in this Monday morning as an objection to the resumption of classes. AUB students blocked Bliss street with garbage cans on Sunday night. The protests’ aim is to send a message that the revolution needs to proceed with the students because they represent a big number of the protesters. The students, however, decided not to do it on the pavement but on the street itself because the pavement is public property.