After 21 days of protests and roadblocks that caused the crippling of the country, schools and universities were expected to resume the academic year on November the 6th. Protesters have recently decided to end the roads blocking and protest in front of government circles instead, executing another form of pressure to accelerate the formation of the new government.
However, school and university students, who form the majority of protesters in Lebanon, weren’t done with the revolution just yet. They skipped the school day and continued demanding their rights in several spots all over Lebanon under the motto: We Are the Red Line!
In every region in Lebanon, students formed groups and walked from their schools, some in their school uniforms, and headed their pre-decided place of gathering. In Beirut, some groups walked to the ministry of education in UNESCO.
There, they claimed their rights as students, aging insurance for their parents, the soonest formation of the new technocratic government, and early parliamentary elections. They protested in front of the ministry of education for 2 hours, where they spread along the road before security forces came to open it.
In Bekaa, Bar-Elias, they protested in front of a number of schools in the area, chanting: “No schools and no teaching until we get our rights.”
The same happened in Zahle, Saadnayel, and Taalabeya. Students organized a collective march towards ‘Al-Saraya’ where people have been protesting since the onset of the revolution.
In Jounieh, Kessrwan, a school that refused the participation of its students in the protests also met a group that insisted that their school should allow them to practice their rights as citizens. The school finally gave in and shut down for the day.
@assemabouali06The best moment that was caught on camera, however, happened in a school in Tripoli (not to our surprise).
A video circulated online of a crowd of students who helped their peers get out of school, after the administration had denied their exit, by picking them out from the windows of their classes, using… a crane!
@the961And to a more positive event, the army forces tried to get students to open the road leading to Lycee school in Koura, North Lebanon. The school administration immediately asked the army forces not to get involved with the minors.
In Sidon, students walked for 3 hours to get to Lebanon Water Establishment to protest at its front.
@omniaa_magdy2019As for the universities, the students of Notre-Dame University (NDU) and the Lebanese University protested inside their campuses in Beirut and chanted for the revolution.
A similar action was taken by the students of University Saint-Joseph – Huvelin; they blocked the road of the university and organized a movement towards the official departments.
Students of Rafik El Hariri University in Moshref, Al-Shouf, refused the request of their university’s authorities to enter their classes, and installed instead tents in their place of protest.
The most remarkable thing about these movements and protests is that even some of the mothers were seen protesting with their children.
In addition to all that they did in one day across Lebanon, these young protesters took it upon themselves to remove posters of politicians from the streets as they walked by them.
They also called on everyone to help them remove every single one of those pictures on the Lebanese grounds. Protesters in Tripoli have the same planned for tomorrow, November 7th, as they are embarking in a “cleansing” campaign of their city from all political posters.
The question that was asked frequently today is: “Are these young people students of the revolution, or is this the revolution of students?” I say it goes both ways.
Those students skipped their schools and colleges to practice the subject of loyalty and dignity on Lebanon’s streets. They have proven these past three weeks to be not only the heart and pulse of the revolution but of the country as a whole; because without them, there would be nothing to revolt for.
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