Conflict Incident Report

50 people have been arrested over the weekend for celebratory gunfire after last week’s Grade 9 Brevet exams, Internal Security Forces announced Sunday, bringing the total of arrests to 75. In a statement released by the Internal Security Forces late Friday, the force said 177 suspects were wanted in connection to celebratory gunfire after the results of the national exams last week. By Friday evening, police had apprehended 25 suspects and, as per an ISF statement posted to social media, that number had risen to 75 in total by Sunday.

ISF in a statement in June, warned they would be actively tracking and arresting individuals involved in celebratory gunfire, a custom popular among many Lebanese, despite being criminalized by the law by up to 6 months in prison.

An 88-year-old man was killed by a stray bullet Thursday in east Lebanon, during celebrations.

“Those savages, while shooting celebratory gunfire to cheer for the success of their children in exams, are only shooting another bullet to kill the dream of their children for a normal homeland,” Lebanese poet Zahi Wehbe tweeted Sunday.

Students across Lebanon passed the Brevet exams in record numbers, the Education Minister Marwan Hamadeh said Thursday as he announced a pass rate of 81.78 percent, “one of the highest seen in years,” he said during a news conference to mark the occasion.

Students had been waiting since Jun. 10, for the Brevet results, which would determine whether they could continue on to secondary school or retake the exams and face the possibility of repeating Grade 9.