Protests and potshots in Tripoli

A new sight for me at the Sunni anti-Assad protests in Tripoli (that'll be the Lebanese one) on Friday was a small female contingent, albeit separated from the male demonstrators by a rather stern chaperone.

 Following the protests, fighting erupted between militias in two neighbouring yet warring districts of the city. The hardline Sunni/Salafi and Alawite communities have been at each others' throats since the civil war but things are heating up here as it's now a sectarian microcosm for the fighting across the border in Syria. More about that from the tweets of the talented Mr. Joshua Wood here and the BBC. Sadly I filed too late too make the Reuters deadline, dammit.

Apologies for the watermarks but it's still an ongoing news story and bloggers are fond of stealing pictures and not attributing them.    

A sunni milita man runs beneath a Free Syrian Army flag as he heads toward the fighting.

Streets empty as gunfire rings out.

Tripoli residents cautiously peer down the street at Bab al-Tabbaneh, the Sunni neighbourhood  involved in the fighting.

Islamists vs Assad

Islamist groups in Tripoli – Lebanon's northern city – have been staging protests against the Syrian regime for a while but tonight marked their first demonstration in Beirut. The protesters apparently clashed with a  pro-Assad crowd early on in the event but were soon parted by a heavy security presence. There's a good report of how the evening played out here.

Assad supporters do their best to out-shout the Islamist demonstration, separated by  lines of security forces.

A small stand against Assad

After the violence that has met previous demonstrations of solidarity with the people of Syria, held in Beirut, the largest such gathering - held tonight in Martyrs' Square - went off pretty much without a hitch. I'd guess around 500 Lebanese and Syrians filled the monument area, holding candles and banners. Around 25 pro-Assad demonstrators turned up at the end and a short shouting match ensued between roughly the same number of anti-Assad demonstrators, with a strong police presence between the two. The 'anti' crowd were roughly hustled back into the middle of the monument area by ISF troops but regained their 'ground' on the outer slopes of the monument to hurl a few more chants before departing.

A demonstrator takes a quiet moment amid the anti-Assad protest in Beirut's Martyrs' Square

A small group of pro-Assad demonstrators picket the protest

ISF troops push anti-Assad demonstrators away from the pro-Assad picket in a bid to defuse the standoff

Syrian strife spills into Lebanon

Given the fairly firm grip Syria still holds over Lebanon, it was only a matter of time before the unrest there found its way across the border. Today a number of Syrians in Beirut took to the streets in support of Bashar Assad's regime; two protests organised somewhat provocatively in strong Sunni areas saw violence - one demonstrator was shot in the stomach in a drive by shooting, at a second protest demonstrators were set upon by onlookers. I caught up with a around 150 protestors who were yelling Assad's praises outside the Syrian embassy. After around an hour they then proceeded to march all the way back to Dora, where they'd come from this morning.

Lebanon's secular movement finds its stride

Exhaustive counting of the protestors who turned out today to mark their displeasure with Lebanon's sectarian malaise numbered roughly between 'rather a lot' and 'bloody loads'.  It's good to see this movement gaining momentum but sadly any viable alternative  to the confessional system of (mis)governance that has been slowly poisoning this country for far too many years seems far from clear.

Mubarak's mob

 These pictures are from a Pro-Muabrak demonstration Josh Wood  and I ran into last Wednesday morning, our second day in Cairo. These boys sure loved their President and filled Mohandaseen square, across the river from Tahrir, in what we were told time and time again was an effort to show the world that there was no united Egyptian voice calling for the end of Mubarak's regime.
The protest was vast and there were a huge number of legitimate demonstrators; many whom I spoke to were all-out in favor of Mubarak, like this lady here...

But there was also an element who thought that whilst he should not stand at the next election, if Mubarak were to leave immediately as per the Tahrir protester's demands, then the country would face even deeper chaos. "We don't want to be like Iraq" was one sentiment repeated over and over.

However, compared to the demonstrations in Tahrir the previous day, there was clearly far more tension, particularly aimed toward myself and Josh – who found many a shady Mukhabarat man lurking behind him whilst he spoke to members of the crowd. For every time I was stopped and often told to take peoples picture, there were those who were fairly adamant that I shouldn't be there at all.
This anti-foreign sentiment, seeded by a relentless campaign on state television that 'Israeli agitators' were posing as Western journalists, led to the somewhat crazy situation myself and Josh found ourselves in on Thursday, which eventually led to us leaving the country. Still, I managed to get a ton of stuff in the few brief days I was lucky enough to witness one of the most interesting events of recent years and I'll be getting up here as soon as I can, before y'all start saying "Sam, shut the f*ck up about Egypt."

 

 

Anti Mubarak protest in Beirut

 Police guarded the Egyptian embassy in Beirut today with riot gear and razor wire as around 200 or so protestors gathered to demonstrate against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the actions of Egyptian security forces over the last few days. Not exactly reminiscent of the chaos currently unfurling in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt, but, hey, every little helps.