Heeding a call by the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, General Michel Aoun, orange activists took to the streets to voice their opposition to the continued corruption and hijacking of the state by the Mustaqbal party and its political allies.
The fact that the paid media, Mustaqbal officials and their fans on social media tried to play down the attendance and significance of the event prove it was indeed a successful mobilisation.
They were there in their hundreds only they claimed, despite the fact that protests and conveys took to the streets in Koura, Batroun, Jbeil, Kiserwan, Metn and downtown Beirut. Whilst FPM supporters and activists in their thousands made in to Martyrs Square, many more couldn’t reach the main protest site as their cars were caught in the traffic leading to it.
What the yellow journalists and Mustaqbal officials didn’t report was that each and every person who took to the streets yesterday, did so on their own free will. Not a single person was paid a single Lebanese Lira. There were neither petrol voucher giveaways nor buses to transport them. They came on the own free will, in their own vehicles and using their own petrol. These were free people, rather than the rent a crowd the square is used to.
FPM activists and supporters took to the streets to declare their disdain for a ruling class that extends its own Parliamentary terms rather than hold elections. They were there to declare their rejection of the unconstitutional extension of the terms of officials that no longer serve the people but rather the Politicians that keep them in their positions. The people wearing orange were there to pronounce that the marginalization of a large segment of the population; decent loyal patriotic and free people, would no longer be accepted.
Old and young, rich and poor, people from all walks of life were in the streets and in their cars, beeping the horn “Tararatata” as an indication that they had heard the message of the FPM and its leadership.
The recent return to the streets by the supporters of the FPM signalled a return to the voicing of the day to day issues affecting the Lebanese.
Officials of the FPM highlighted the corruption plaguing the country. The lack of electricity and water, the garbage piled in the streets and the attacks on the democratic spirit of Lebanon. The protests on the highway at the point where the Jal Al Dib Bridge should stand, was another reminder of the inept nature of the government and its incompetence.
The images of Ministers, MPs and officials of the FPM standing near the statue of the Martyrs with a flood of orange all around them, was a message in itself. A message that the FPM is united, united as a party and united with its supporters to confront the challenges facing the country, offer solutions and make a stand that no one; no party or country that backs them would succeed at their attempts to sideline the FPM.
R.B 13/08/2015