By their unique way of having a peaceful revolution, the people of Saida just sent tonight tens of lanterns to the sky. “This revolution is peaceful, and it will stay so until achieving our goals,” a protestor told the National News Agency (NNA).
Since October 17, the citizens of Saida and the nearby areas have gathered at the intersection of Iliya, raising the Lebanese flags with national tunes playing in the background. No significant problems were reported there since the beginning of the revolution.
With hundreds and thousands of people sitting on the streets calling out for change and rejecting all forms of injustice, the people of Saida stress each day on the peacefulness of their movement. Saida has been a role model in the freedom of opinion and expression in the previous days.
To add beauty to their revolution, the citizens constructed few tents to express themselves and their opinions through panel discussions, as well as drawing and coloring. One of these tents includes a chair made of 956 plastic bottles, which has a sign above it saying, “If you were a president, what would you do?”
@danakozbar“Based on the main crisis of the country, the waste one, the idea of this chair came up,” Tarek Hijazi, a Lebanese youth, told NNA. “We asked the people of Illiya’s protests to get the largest number of plastic bottles possible. In 15 minutes, 956 bottles were gathered, and we made up this chair. Then, we asked the protestors to provide solutions for the social and economic problems in the country.”
Hijazi added that all the caps of these bottles were sent to NGOs that provide wheelchairs for people with special needs. Alongside the previous tent, another tent that reads “Aamiyat el Nas” (All the People) displays individual wishes and visions for a better Lebanon by the citizens of Saida.
Inside this tent, people gather to discuss the current issues and hear each other out. One is free to express his opinions, dreams, and demands for his or her country in front of other individuals, in a way to let each person feel the other and do so with respect and acceptance.
From distributing flowers to the army in their streets in appreciation of their sacrifices and current tough, sending lanterns of peace and hope to the sky and sharing their visions constructively and culturally, to creating a public platform such as this one, the people of Saida give us and the world a beautiful example of a positive and civilized revolution.
@sidon
@monkyseemonkydoThank you, Saida. You make us proud!
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