United by Disgust, Lebanon Demos Search for Shared Future

Anti-government protesters in Lebanon. (AP)
Anti-government protesters in Lebanon. (AP)
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United by Disgust, Lebanon Demos Search for Shared Future

Anti-government protesters in Lebanon. (AP)
Anti-government protesters in Lebanon. (AP)

Lebanon's massive street protests have made it clear what the demonstrators oppose -- with the entire political class in the crosshairs -- but the focus is now turning to what exactly they stand for.

The almost one-week-old protests sparked by a tax on messaging services such as WhatsApp have morphed into a united condemnation of a political system seen as corrupt and beyond repair.

The movement's soundtrack has been a chorus of inventive chants calling out politicians from all sects and parties with rhyming insults.

Most people want the unity government, which is supported by nearly all Lebanon's major political parties, to resign, and disgust with the status quo has been a unifying force.

But what they want next often differs.

On the outskirts of another rally in Beirut, when tens of thousands again brought much of the capital to a standstill, teenager Peter Sayegh and his friend Andrew Baydoun were playing cards on a plastic table.

They agreed that Prime Minister Saad Hariri has to go, but not on the future of Lebanon, said AFP.

"I want the people to rule and give us our rights, secure work for the country and secure my future so I won't have to emigrate," Sayegh said, leaning back on his chair while clutching a Lebanese flag.

Baydoun objected.

"The whole government needs to go and be replaced by a military one," he argued, calling for 84-year-old President Michel Aoun, a former army chief, to stay on.

Scuffling over the future

Lebanon is marked by stark political and sectarian divisions.

Many of its political leaders today were warlords fighting along religious lines during Lebanon's brutal 1975-1990 civil conflict.

The government is set up to balance power between multiple sects, which include different Christian groups, Sunni and Shiite Muslims, as well as the Druze.

But it often entrenches power and influence along sectarian lines.

The protests have been overwhelmingly apolitical, with all party and religious symbols abandoned in favor of the cedar-stamped national flag.

They have also been inclusive -- with no specific stated goals, or leadership or management structure.

But the bottom-up structure also poses risks -- with fears that the momentum could slip away as people feel pressure to return to work or school.

Numbers of protesters have declined since peaking Sunday, which is weekend in Lebanon.

Mass protests in 2015 ultimately failed to achieve major change and elections in 2018 ushered in the same sectarian parties.

In 2016, a non-sectarian coalition called Beirut Madinati (Beirut is my city) came close but ultimately fell short in city elections.

In the general election two years later, the group was part of a coalition that won only one seat.

'Demands later'

On Monday, Mona Fawaz of Beirut Madinati gave a brief speech in the center of the capital, stressing she was not claiming to represent the entire protest movement.

Yet parts of the crowd accused her group of trying to hijack the demonstrations.

"Go and speak in ABC," one protester yelled, accusing the group of elitism by referring a high-end shopping mall in Beirut.

Speeches on Tuesday evening concentrated on points of agreement: calls for the government's resignation and reclaiming public funds embezzled by politicians.

Nizar Hassan, 26, part of a leftwing group called Lihaqqi (for my rights), said the protest movement had to be realistic.

"This is a popular uprising, you can't just say: 'These are the demands.' But a lot of people are talking about things that are actually quite achievable," he said.

For Hassan, an interim government of technocrats could stabilize the economy ahead of new elections in which the traditional parties would be obliterated.

"In 2015, people were talking about overthrowing the sectarian system altogether. (Now) people are much more knowledgeable of the limits," he said.

Carmen Geha, an assistant professor at the American University of Beirut, said the new protests had support across economic groups and throughout the country.

"Leaderless movements can dissipate and be co-opted," she warned.

"There is a need to frame the demands. But right now, this is a popular protest -- go to the streets now and talk demands later."



Father of Six Killed ‘For Piece of Bread’ During Gaza Aid Distribution

 Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)
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Father of Six Killed ‘For Piece of Bread’ During Gaza Aid Distribution

 Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians carry the body of Hossam Wafi who, according to family members, was killed in an Israeli strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 2, 2025. (AP)

Cries of grief echoed across southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital Monday as dozens came to mourn Hossam Wafi, after the father of six was killed while attempting to get supplies to feed his family.

His mother, Nahla Wafi, sobbed uncontrollably over her son, who was among 31 people killed by Israeli fire while trying to reach a food distribution site the previous day, according to the Palestinian territory's civil defense agency.

"He went to get food for his daughters and came back dead," said Nahla Wafi, who lost two sons and a nephew on Sunday.

Hossam Wafi had travelled with his brother and nephew to a newly established distribution center in the southern city of Rafah.

"They were just trying to buy (flour). But the drone came down on them," his mother said, as she tried to comfort four of her granddaughters in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel has faced growing condemnation over the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where the United Nations has warned the entire population faces the risk of famine.

-'Go there and get bombed'-

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that its field hospital in Rafah received 179 cases on Sunday, including 21 pronounced dead on arrival.

The ICRC said that all those wounded "said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site", and that "the majority suffered gunshot or shrapnel wounds".

Israeli authorities and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US and Israeli-backed outfit that runs the distribution centers, denied any such incident took place.

The military instead said that troops fired "warning shots" at people who approached them one kilometer away from the Rafah distribution site before dawn.

A witness told AFP thousands of people gathered at the area, known locally as the Al-Alam junction, between 2:00 and 4:00 am (2300 GMT and 0100 GMT) in the hopes of reaching the distribution center.

At Nasser Hospital, Hossam Wafi's young daughters called out for their father, kissing his body wrapped in a white shroud, before it was taken away.

Outside the hospital, dozens of men stood in silence before the body, praying. Some cried as the remains were taken away, one of them holding the father's face until he was gently pulled away.

His uncle, Ali Wafi, told AFP he felt angry his nephew was killed while trying to get aid.

"They go there and get bombed -- airstrikes, tanks, shelling -- all for a piece of bread," he said.

"He went for a bite of bread, not for anything else. What was he supposed to do? He had to feed his little kids. And the result? He's getting buried today," he added.

- Militarized aid -

The deaths in Rafah were one of two deadly incidents reported by Gaza's civil defense agency on Sunday around the GHF centers, which the UN says contravene basic humanitarian principles and appear designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

There have been several other reports of chaotic scenes and warning shots fired in connection with the distribution sites over the past week.

The UN's humanitarian agency (OCHA) published a video of one such distribution site in central Gaza's Netzarim corridor on Thursday.

A large crowd is seen gathered around four long corridors made from metal fences installed in the middle of an arid landscape, corralling men and women into files to receive flour.

The distribution site and its waiting area sit on a flattened piece of land surrounded by massive mounds of soil and sand.

It is manned by English-speaking security guards travelling in armored vehicles.

Palestinians exiting the distribution area carry cardboard boxes sometimes bearing a "GHF" logo, as well as wooden pallets presumably to be repurposed as fuel or structures for shelter.

In the large crowd gathered outside the gated corridors, some men are seen shoving each other, and one woman complains that her food package was stolen.

Hossam Wafi's uncle Ali said he wished Gaza's people could safely get aid.

"People take the risk (to reach the distribution site), just so they can survive."