Hundreds of people took to the streets yesterday following FPM Chief Michel Aoun’s call on his supporters to stage protests against the government’s policies. Many other Lebanese leaders could also invite their supporters to join a baseless gathering and attract a larger or maybe smaller crowd than those who filled Down Town Beirut’s Martyrs Square.
However, yesterday’s movement and those that could potentially follow have ignored the two most crucial crises currently rattling our country. No protesters have gathered to demand the election of a new president and none have gathered to protest the trash pile ups suffocating the Lebanese.
Our meter shows that we have reached the 446th day without a president and will also mark a month into the waste crisis in four short days.
If the people reading these lines go out to their balconies or head to the street, they will probably come face to face with a massive pile of trash that, in some areas, has come close to blocking the road.
A few meters away from Casino du Liban, in which both March 8 and 14 politicians are fighting for the lion’s share, a new dumpster has formed and it is growing every single day.
Under this bridge that was once destroyed by Israel then rebuilt in a flash, trash is being tossed and it’s starting to reek, just like our state, while politicians gamble with our fate and that of the country just a few meters away from the casino.
Article originally written in Arabic by Dany Haddad
