On Thursday, Lebanese teachers and professors gathered to demonstrate outside the Ministry of Education to demand that the ministry respect and honor their contractual agreement.
During the demonstration, the educators tried to breach the security cordons of the ministry guarded by riot police. Some of them, like professor-activist Nisrine Shahine, succeeded to cross into the premises of the building.
It wasn’t long until the police resorted to using brutal force against the educators who were simply and rightfully standing up against the exploitation of their rights; some haven’t been paid for a while, some being partially paid, and some barely making $100 per month.
The violent reaction of the police resulted in the educator Nisrine Shahine being injured and transported to the hospital.
While she is out now and in stable condition, it’s worth noting that this is not the first time security forces cause harm to civilians protesting their most basic rights, which is basically to be able to live.
It begs the question of whether they, the riot police, are not under the same economic duress as the civilians in protest, and are managing to feed their families and pay their rent.
It is a question that civilians have often asked the military during protests ever since the start of the revolution in 2019.
Now, the people have little to zero chance to ask them directly as no space is given to them to communicate at an equal level with their fellow Lebanese in the military, with one side using violence to subdue the other into silence.
The brutal attacks have been increasing, even after the Beirut Port explosion, with the use of tear gas, water cannons, and rubber and live bullets, to students’ protests and the lawyer, who was assaulted in broad daylight.
The ISF’s most recent attacks include the time they fired live ammunition against the people in Tripoli’s revolutionary square and just last week when they attempted to shut down a demonstration by the families of the Beirut blast victims who were just demanding justice for their lost loved ones.
