Nick Fisher, New Zealand Youtuber uploaded a video on his channel “Indigo Traveller” on Sunday showcasing how he got caught in the middle of wild gunfire in the streets of Tripoli, Lebanon.
In an Instagram post, the ex-horticultural apprentice who now travels the world documenting his journey under the channel Indigo Traveller wrote: “I have just published one of the heaviest videos that I have ever released.”
“I got caught in the middle of wild gunfire in the streets of Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city and a city with a dark past,” Fisher added. “Due to politics, people took to the streets and started unloading rounds of bullets from automatic weapons.”
The Youtuber noted that unarmed people were injured due to stray bullets. Walls above his head were sprayed with bullets, and at one point Fisher had to take shelter in a politician’s office as one gunman was just meters away.
Nick Fisher was just having an average day touring Tripoli’s Old Souks and the tight tangle of alleyways, interviewing locals when suddenly he started hearing machine guns being fired near him.
The day the New Zealand Youtuber was filming his tour in Tripoli was around the same time Saad Hariri got re-elected almost exactly a year after he was forced to step down under the weight of a nationwide uprising.
Some of Hariri’s supporters in Tripoli took to the streets to celebrate by firing those machine guns.
“The people who watch my videos should know that I personally think Tripoli is safe to visit,” the Youtuber disclosed in his video. “However, you have to do your own research and take your own risks.”
“There was a point when we were taken into this room by a local political affiliate who was helping us out as we were in the middle of the gunfire,” Fisher said. “We saw bullets being fired at buildings where families live.”
Nick Fisher later found out throughout filming that this “celebration” is considered to be an average day in the life of a Lebanese citizen in Tripoli, as there are no legal laws that forbid or actively target people who mis-use machine guns.
“They are brainwashed. We don’t understand why they do this,” an ex-paramedic who lives in Tripoli spoke to the Youtuber expressing deep frustration at the residents in Tripoli who engage in such acts to celebrate their political leaders.
“They raise them since they were young to follow certain politicians. They grow up brainwashed and without a culture,” the ex-paramedic added.
Unfortunately, he is not so wrong. Too many incidents have occurred in the country during funerals and celebrations, some even lethal, due to that weird nonsense habit and no law to stop it.
The video shares the New Zealand Youtuber’s first-hand perspective during this shocking event:
Nick’s unfavorable experience didn’t deter him from wanting to help the country that just gave him quite a scare. After his trip, he launched a fundraiser under the name “Lebanon Desperately Needs Your Help Today” and he has already garnered $28,049 of the $50,000 target.
The proceeds will go to Human Appeal, a charity working on the ground to provide humanitarian assistance to the most marginalized and vulnerable people, including refugees across Lebanon.
Worth mentioning that this is not Nick’s first vlogging visit to Lebanon.
