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You can watch the video here. In it, we can hear the MPs bodyguards telling activists who were standing outside a feminist NGO (Nasawiya) to “go inside” after they had been chanting “Go home, MPs go home!”– a common call from today’s rally downtown against the cancellation of elections and subsequent extension of MPs’ term limits.The activists say the police held them inside, as the MP’s armored SUV waits outside.
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بلد خرى حراس نايب بيرفعو سلاح بوجنا لانو النا شيعارات ضد النواب… منعونا بالتصوير بالاول مع ان كنا عم نصور بنساوية -
The convoy can be seen parked in front of NGO (above) and activists say the bodyguards were angry because of the chanting, bringing out guns to intimidate them.
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The story was confirmed by journalists near the scene such as The Wall Street Journal’s Maria Abi-Habib
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@nadimgemayel just saw Nadim Gemayel’s forces attack Nassiwiya NGO for asking why his convoy parked illegally outside their offices #Lebanon
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The Huffington Post’s Joshua Hersh said the army’s tactics were akin to treating the women’s group as if it was a hideout of the militia leader:
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Army commandeers the area around @nasawiya. You’d think Assir was hiding out in the women’s collective. pic.twitter.com/jDvFtDDjcQ -
Completely contradicting the protestors’ story, the MP in question went on television to claim his convoy was attacked “with rocks”. Watch video here:Notice that the broadcaster only carries the MPs side of the story and does so as fact, without question, even though the MP later admits that he was not present at the time of the alleged attack.Activists said only one tomato was thrown when bodyguards got aggressive. No rocks or damage to the vehicles is seen in the videos and Hersh reports there were no signs of such an attack.
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Neighbors near @nasawiya told me they saw group throw potatoes (not tomatoes as others say). I saw evidence of neither on the street.
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I have reportedly frequently on the young activists in question over the last year. I have never seen any violent tendencies among them, and I have never seen any rocks near their center which is located in the heart of urban Mar Mikhael, no dirt in sight.
Habib Battah
Habib Battah is an investigative journalist and founder of the news site beirutreport.com. Battah has covered Lebanon and the Middle East for over 15 years and teaches journalism and media studies at the American University of Beirut. He is a contributor to Monocle, The Guardian, BBC World, Al Jazeera and others, a former fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University and two-time recipient of the Samir Kassir Press Freedom Award. Battah's investigative work was recently recognized for outstanding local reporting by the Columbia University Oakes Award for Environmental Reporting. Battah earned a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. in Near East Studies and Journalism from New York University.
