Last week's bogus counter-protest in Beirut, in support of Syria's occupation of Lebanon, has been decisively trumped — by a truly massive counter-counter protest made up of real, honest-to-goodness Lebanese people.
Observers estimated the crowd at about 1 million people — or roughly 30% of Lebanon's entire population:
And they're still
lookin' good:
The Associated Press
reports:
BEIRUT, Lebanon Mar 14, 2005 — Hundreds of thousands of anti-Syrian demonstrators flooded the capital Monday in the biggest protest ever in Lebanon, surpassing the turnout for an earlier pro-Damascus rally organized by the Islamic militant Hezbollah. In a show of national unity, Sunnis, Druse and Christians packed Martyrs' Square as brass bands played and balloons soared skyward.
And as befits people fighting, in part, for the right to speak freely, they weren't afraid to cut loose and crack a few jokes:
There was a party atmosphere on the Mediterranean seaside square, where many young faces were painted with the red and white colors and green cedar tree symbol of the Lebanese flag. And there were signs poking fun at Syria.
"Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep," read one, with a picture of Syrian President Bashar Assad apparently looking shamefaced at his late father, Hafez Assad.
Pro-democracy protesters: They're not only better-looking, they also have more fun.
FOLLOW-UP:This Yahoo! News slideshow includes a picture of the "Papa Don't Preach" protester:
And it seems like other Lebanese are big fans of Mel Gibson in
Braveheart:
Who says American culture isn't popular in the Middle East?
2 comments:
I laughed myself silly about the Mel Gibson quote too. The thing is like Bill Clinton says on his weblog , Bashar Assad must be removed from power to set the ME straight.
Posted by Marc D'or
I really hope that Clinton site is satire.
But I'm afraid it's not.
Posted by TallDave
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