After hectic week, Beirut begins to return to
normal
Disruption and security of summit wind down Businesses reopen and
calm returns to ‘red zone’ as only a few delegations remain
Nayla Assaf
Daily Star staff
Twenty-four hours after the closing of the 14th Arab Summit, roads have been opened and
security personnel have been relieved of their posts as life around the capital gradually
returns to normal.
For people driving through the streets of the Beirut Central District on Friday, the sight
was barely recognizable: roadblocks had been removed, cars were parked everywhere and the
8,500 security troops posted in the “hotel area” had packed up and left the
scene.
According to the head of the Republican Guard, Colonel Mustafa Hamdan, who was in charge
of security during the summit, life went back to normal or almost as of Thursday
evening.
“Security precautions both in the hotel area and at the airport were dropped right
after the heads of state left. Some minor precautions remain, since some delegates have
stayed,” he told The Daily Star.
Businesses in the “red zone” surrounding the Phoenicia-Intercontinental Hotel,
all of which were forced to close for three days, began opening on Friday, although
business remained slow because of Good Friday.
Standing by the coffee machine in his empty shop, the owner of Express Abed said he was
stuck with large quantities of merchandise which he had bought in anticipation of a summit
rush.
“Business is slow already, and my rent is very high because I’m right next to
the Phoenicia,” he said, adding that “the forced three-day break didn’t
help at all, especially since we won’t be receiving any compensation.”
Meanwhile, the press center set up for the summit, which was swarming with hundreds of
members of the media just a day earlier, was a deserted sight on Friday, with only a few
technicians and reporters hurrying to set up elsewhere.
“We’re the last to leave, everyone started packing at 8am and by 9am, there was
no one left,” said a technician from Abu Dhabi Television, who was busy loading
equipment into a van.
Richard Lebeviere, who heads Radio France International’s international service, was
one of the last journalists still on site helping his crew load equipment.
“Ramallah is where it’s all happening now, so most of our reporters are there,
but we’re staying in Lebanon until Sunday,” he said.
Sandro Sayegh, the head of operations of Facilities Management, the company in charge of
all the installation at the center, summed up the feeling by saying that “hectic
wouldn’t even begin to describe these past few weeks.”
Deploying 70 workers around the clock, Sayegh and his crew were busy dismantling the
entire set-up of tents and temporary buildings in order to meet their Sunday deadline.
At the Phoenicia a security fortress for the past three days visitors were
circulating normally, with a metal detector and guards posted on each entrance.
“Things are slowly going back to normal,” said Nada Ghawi, the hotel’s
public relations manager. “Our personnel were on call 24 hours a day during the
summit, and now they’re busy restructuring everything,” she said.
During the summit, all the rooms and restaurants were transformed to cater to the
delegations’ needs, and all the shops inside the compound were closed down.
Ghawi said although some delegations were still staying at the hotel, rooms were slowly
filling up with “ordinary guests.”
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