Last night in Beirut: death threats, curfews, and the rest.

Thursday 25/01 - Friday 26/01.

When we were driving in the South, we’ve been hearing about mounting tensions all over the country... First, clashes between refugees and the Army in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain-El-Helwa, just outside Saida (at which point my driver, to my great disappointment, decided we weren’t going to the camp. Bugger). Then, it was clashes at the Lebanese Arab University between students and people of the Mostaqbal party (that’s the pro-gov Hariri people): 4 dead. And that is just outside the house of my driver, who started to panic because he was getting worried about his kids...
Didn’t help that both mobile network, Alfa and MTC Touch, were both down. And, according to Steve, so were the landlines - a way for the government to stop people from rallying, perhaps? That’d be a mighty bad idea... with all the people trying to check on their children... oh well.

Then we started hearing that people had been blocking the roads leading from the Beirut to the South. Then the driver started to get nervous - and it took me a little while to understand why.

Most villages have a clear sectarian majority - and therefore, you can pinpoint villages saying that ‘this is a Shiite/Sunni/Maronite’ village. And those barriers on the roads would therefore be set based on these reasons...

As we reached the town of Al-Naame, a Sunni/pro-Hariri/pro-government village, we were stuck for like 3 hours in a barrage set up by some angry youngsters. The driver tried, in vain, to go through side roads, and after a while, we were asked by the angry mob where we were going. My driver let me do the talking: after all, I’m a tourist and they would let me through, whereas if they heard him speak with his southern accent, they’d conclude he’s a Shiite - which is true - and send us back. So I took my best Egyptian accent and told them I was visiting, that I didn’t give a damn about their politics and that I wanted to go through.

At this point, their ‘leadership’ decided they would lift the barrage, and they let everyone through.

Later on, we reached another barrage, which lasted less - less than an hour. Now those guys were Shiites. They were searching all cars, the trunks, asking people what they were. Sending the Sunnis back. One of the people was yelling “if you’re Shiite we’ll let you through, if you’re Sunni we’ll kill you” then approached our car.

I was frozen. While I sensed that the guy was just an overexcited jerk, I was still pinned in my seat. So that’s what a sectarian war is like? People being classified based on their religion? This is fucking ridiculous.

Anyways, I spilled out my Egyptian-tourist-don’t-care-about-politics spiel, which didn’t work well; but my driver spoke to them, and as he was a Shiite as well, they let us through. They didn’t kill anyone, just sent some people back - but damn, it’s scary.

Then the driver dropped me by his home in southern Beirut, because he was worried that if he drove me to my place he wouldn’t be able to go home. Grrrrrr. So I found myself, after darkness, walking in an unknown area with angry youth running around me in motorcycles. Then I found myself right in front of the Lebanese Arab University, where some people died earlier! A crazy-looking square it was, with at least 200 angry young people, a bunch of army cars and television reporters running around!

Luckily I had Sara and her dad on the phone, giving me directions on how to get the hell out of there! Eventually I got out of this area, tried to take a cab they wouldn’t stop - that was around quarter to 8, so 45 minutes before the curfew... I even tried to have a police car drive me home but they wouldn’t stop either!!!

After a while I managed to take a cab - for about 7 times the normal fare -, to Renée’s place (which is my Lebanese home). Got home, then Renée took me along to a friend of hers, where we stayed until the next morning - the curfew was lifted at 6 am. So I got home, finished packing, and was on my way to Boston. To a -16 degrees climate.

I think the angry mob was better ;)

NB: the 3 photos in this entry are not mine but are from Al-Jazeera, of the day clashes at the Arab Uni. I didnt have the guts to get my camera out with all those angry kids with sticks running around..