Lebanon’s Protests: Cleaning in the Morning and Partying at Night

Lebanese activists clean a main road in downtown Beirut. AFP photo
Lebanese activists clean a main road in downtown Beirut. AFP photo
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Lebanon’s Protests: Cleaning in the Morning and Partying at Night

Lebanese activists clean a main road in downtown Beirut. AFP photo
Lebanese activists clean a main road in downtown Beirut. AFP photo

Medical student Lynn Abi Khalil, 17, says she could not take part in Lebanon's massive spontaneous protests against the government so instead she picked up gloves and a trash bag.

"I haven't been participating in the demonstrations because my family doesn't want me to," she says, as she collects rubbish in the center of the capital.

"So I'm taking part in a different way," she tells Agence France Presse, wearing a white medical mask.

On Sunday night, hundreds of thousands gathered across the country chanting against what they view as a corrupt and arrogant ruling class unable to lift the country out of its daily economic woes.

In the capital's main square, on Monday morning, the ground is strewn with plastic water bottles, smoldering trash, and the odd red-and-white Lebanese flag.

"Leave now," reads a trampled flyer bearing a picture of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

Abi Khalil is one of hundreds of men, women and children who have flocked to the edge of the capital's Martyrs' Square in the early hours to do their part.

On the pavement at the foot of a large mosque, volunteers crouch behind an orderly line of supplies, handing them out to those who have turned up.

In a country infamous for major trash spillovers and sub-standard recycling, there are blue bags for plastic, green for glass and metal, and black for general waste.

Wearing a dark grey T-shirt and backpack, Peter Mouracade has been coming to Martyrs' Square since Saturday morning.

"I went to my kitchen, looked at was inside the cupboard –- plastic bags, gloves -- and I just went down to the streets," says the 39-year-old.

But the volunteer movement has since ballooned as the streets fill day after day with Lebanese from all religious sects and walks of life venting their discontent -- and then also cleaning up.

"From three or five people, we ended up being 50. From 50, we became 500. Today we have thousands of people who are coming," he says.

Mouracade, who is the CEO of the Beirut Marathon, says he and other volunteers mostly find a lot of plastic bottles.

When he first started out on Saturday, it followed a night of several people overturning trash dumpsters and setting them alight, or even breaking shop windows.

"There are a lot of people who are feeling a lot of anger and a lot of pain, that's why there's so much destruction," he adds.

"We need to respect the voice of the people, and our duty is to clean" afterwards.

On the square, female volunteers scoop up piles of used half lemons -- some with rind curling off them -- and burnt trash.

Suheil Hamdan, 49, films them with his mobile phone, seemingly making a video to share on social media.

"This is where corrupt lawmakers and ministers in our country belong -- in the bin bags," he says, a cap on his head to keep off the sun.

Sami Deeb, a 34-year-old, has taken the day off from running his struggling food distribution business.

"We have been on the ground for four days fighting for our rights," he says, dressed in an immaculately pressed pink shirt.

For days, he has been taking part in the protests, which late Sunday evolved into euphoric celebrations complete with humoristic songs, DJs, and traditional dabke dancing.

"We clean in the morning, and we party at night," he says.



What Is Known About Polio’s Return to the Gaza Strip 

Displaced kids sort through trash at a street in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. (AP)
Displaced kids sort through trash at a street in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. (AP)
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What Is Known About Polio’s Return to the Gaza Strip 

Displaced kids sort through trash at a street in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. (AP)
Displaced kids sort through trash at a street in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. (AP)

Health authorities in the Gaza Strip confirmed the first case of polio in 25 years earlier this month.

The infection and subsequent partial paralysis of the nearly year-old Abdul-Rahman Abu Al-Jidyan has hastened plans for a mass vaccination campaign of children across the Palestinian enclave starting on Sept. 1.

Three-day pauses in fighting in each of Gaza's three zones have been agreed by Israel and Hamas to allow thousands of UN workers to administer vaccines.

ORIGINS

The same strain that later infected the Palestinian baby, from the type 2 vaccine-derived polio virus that has also been detected in wastewater in some developed countries in recent years, was detected in July in six sewage samples taken in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah.

It is not clear how the strain arrived in Gaza but genetic sequencing showed that it resembles a variant found in Egypt that could have been introduced from September 2023, the WHO said.

The UN health body says that a drop in routine vaccinations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Gaza, has contributed to its re-emergence.

Polio vaccination coverage, primarily conducted through routine immunization, was estimated at 99% in 2022 and fell to 89% in 2023. Health workers say the closure of many hospitals in Gaza, often because of Israeli strikes or restrictions on fuel, has contributed to lower vaccination rates. Israel blames Hamas, saying they use hospitals for military purposes.

Aid workers say poor sanitation conditions in Gaza where open sewers and trash piles are commonplace after nearly 11 months of war have created favorable conditions for its spread.

MASS VACCINATIONS

Israel's military and the Palestinian armed group Hamas have agreed to three separate, zoned three-day pauses in fighting to allow for the first round of vaccinations.

The campaign is due to start in central Gaza on Sunday with three consecutive daily pauses in fighting, then move to southern Gaza, where there would be another three-day pause, followed by northern Gaza. There is an agreement to extend the pause in each zone to a fourth day if needed.

The vaccines, which were released from global emergency stockpiles, have already arrived in Gaza and are due to be issued to 640,000 children under 10 years of age.

They will be given orally by some 2,700 health care workers at medical centers and by mobile teams moving among Gaza's hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war, UN aid workers say.

The World Health Organization says that a successful roll-out requires at least 95% coverage.

The Israeli military's humanitarian unit (COGAT) said that the vaccination campaign would be conducted in coordination with the Israeli military "as part of the routine humanitarian pauses that will allow the population to reach the medical centers where the vaccinations will be administered".

A second round is planned in late September.

RISKS

The Gaza case which is vaccine-derived is seen as a setback for the global polio fight which has driven down cases by more than 99% since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns.

Wild polio is now only endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan although more than 30 countries are still listed by the WHO as subject to outbreaks, including Gaza's neighbors Egypt and Israel.

The World Health Organization has warned of the further spread of polio within Gaza and across borders given the poor health and hygiene conditions there.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the faecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis and death in young children with those under 2 years old most at risk. In nearly all cases it has no symptoms, making it hard to detect.