Conflict Incident Report

Lebanese University’s 500 journalism students stayed at home Wednesday in a protest against a shooting incident, halting classes across the Fanar campus, north of Beirut.

The strike came a day after LU students said bullets whizzed over the head of one who had just left the Fanar campus where Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi was giving a lecture.

The student, identified by her first name, Joelle, was not hit when an armed man on a motorcycle opened fire into the air and then fled toward Zeaiterieh, a small, poor neighborhood tucked away in the Fanar hills.

A student at the Fanar campus said the incident occurred when Joelle left Azzi’s lecture to go home.

“As she left a man riding a motorcycle and carrying a pistol opened fire, but thank God Joelle was not hurt,” the student told the Voice of Lebanon radio station. She spoke on condition of anonymity.

LU students said Tuesday’s shooting was the third such incident this year.

A statement issued by the student body of the journalism school at the Fanar campus said classes would be suspended Wednesday and a sit-in will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday to demand protection.

“Fellow students, danger is getting closer with each day. Our security is in the hands of the divine providence. The government doesn't care and the university president is in a different world,” the statement said.

“Enough ... we have the right to learn and it’s the government’s duty to protect us,” it added.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Mar-18/291232-lebanes...