While Riad Salameh’s wife, Nada, was holding her birthday in a hotel in Beirut, a group of protesters crashed the party, calling for their money to be returned.
“Your husband robbed us,” the protesters told her as they made their way into the hall where the invitees were gathered, positioning themselves at the main table.
They shouted “the people want to topple the system” and other anti-government chants, and shamed the attendees for holding a “fancy” party while the Lebanese are “living in the streets.”
“We’ll follow you to your houses, to your restaurants, to wherever you go,” one of the protesters yelled.
“The youth have no food, the youth are begging for a 100,000 LBP bill in front of the bank, the youth are worn out,” another added.
Some of the protesters filmed the commotion and posted the videos on social media, where they got heavy engagement.
It’s worth noting that, after the videos made it to cyberspace, there was a claim going around that the crashed party was not actually Nada Salameh’s party.
However, it was later verified that, in fact, it was, as per LBCI. Still, confusion remained regarding one lady at whom protesters directed their chants; it turned out that she was not actually Riad Salameh’s wife but one of the attendees of the party.
The beginning of the movement of crashing leisure times of politicians and officials in restaurants and public places, or what’s called the public shaming of politicians, dates back to 2019, following the October 17 uprising.
Since then, many political figures have had their outings ruined by angry people calling for justice and shaming them for not caring about the predicament of their country and their fellow citizens, who are suffering from the worst economic crisis in Lebanon’s history.
