Left-wing students march on US Embassy
Security forces fire tear gas, water cannons at protesters Nayla Assaf
Daily Star staff
Riot police beat back students with tear gas and water
cannons Friday, as they were trying to break through the barbed wire barricade near the US
Embassy in Awkar to protest the war in Iraq.
Several demonstrations in support of the Iraqi people took place in front of the embassies
of the United States, Qatar and Kuwait nations supportive of the US invasion of Iraq.
In Awkar, facing the US Embassy, 10 students broke away from the main demonstration
and clashed with Internal Security Forces (ISF) personnel when they tried to break through
the barbed wire barrier.
In response, the ISF hosed down the crowd and reporters several times and started lobbing
tear gas bombs randomly, slightly injuring some demonstrators and entrapping the crowd in
a stifling toxic cloud.
One female demonstrator was taken to hospital after she received a head injury.
Over 300 students were at the demonstration.
“We’re not here to express our support for the Iraqi regime, but for the
Iraqi people, who are our brethren,” said 24-year-old engineering student Rawad
Ayash, who came from the Lebanese American University’s (LAU) Jbeil campus.
According to Maher Sabra,
a 23-year-old physics student from the Lebanese University (LU), there aren’t enough
people demonstrating against the war in Lebanon.
“I believe the lack of organized reactions and demonstrations is because of the
government’s policy to weaken and abort political parties,” he told The
Daily Star. “Any initiative taken on a personal level won’t have the required
impact.”
LU law student Charbel Fadl said that “more people have to take a stand against the
war.”
Students came to Awkar from the LU, LAU and the American University of Beirut. They first
gathered near the ABC store in Dbayeh, about 2 kilometers from the embassy.
Many were holding Lebanese and Iraqi flags, in addition to Progressive Socialist Party
flags, Communist banners, pictures of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara and banners reading:
Drop Bush, not War.
One student was seen holding a North Korean flag.
After leaving the store, the group began marching to the ISF barricade, about 1 kilometer
away from the embassy. At least 80 anti-riot police were stationed there, in addition to a
fire truck and two sets of barbed wire.
While most demonstrators stopped at the barricade and started chanting anti-war songs,
around 10 of them climbed over the barbed wire and started throwing stones at the police,
who responded immediately.
The police alternated between tear gas and water canons, leaving demonstrators trapped for
over an hour.
In Tripoli, meanwhile, thousands marched from the Great Mansouri Mosque, chanting
anti-American slogans.
US citizens delay protest
A group of US citizens who planned to demonstrate against
the war and meet with US Ambassador Vincent Battle in Awkar, saw their initiative delayed
by the clashes between students and security officers.
The group of 13, which had also planned to hand Battle an anti-war letter containing over
60 signatures from US citizens, was forced to
delay the meeting until Monday.
“I believe it is important for us, as Americans living here, to speak out against the
war,” university professor Laurie Brand said. “We also want to show the people
here that we will not stay silent.”
Brand said the group wanted to make its voice heard both in front of the US government and
people here.
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