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Day 8 | October 24, 2019
Day 8
Still ongoing...
October 24, 2019
8 days and still no word from the President.
Some political parties sent their supporters to create chaos on the streets, but the protestors would have none of it and it died down quickly.
Finally, President Michel Aoun presented a live televised speech. It was later questioned that the speech could have been pre-recorded due to a shift in the position of the books on the shelf behind him during two different instances of the speech.
President Aoun assured protestors that their voices will be heard. He reiterated Prime Minister Hariri’s proposed reforms and suggested a re-examination of the current leaders through state institutions, urging protestors to back these reforms. The only problem? The people do not trust the state institutions as led by the current cabinet. The revolution rejects any ideas that do not align with the resignation of the current government.
Finally, President Aoun stated that he is willing to meet with representatives of the protests to find the best solution. But here’s the catch: the number of representatives is abundant. On the first few days of the revolution, it was estimated that there were about 2 million people at a time who took the streets in Lebanon. 3000 in London, 5000 in Paris, and thousands of others around the globe. The Diaspora? It constitutes 14 Million Lebanese people.
The magic of the revolution? The secret recipe to its success? Simple. We are all the leaders. It has no face.
It started with 20, then became 300 [women]. It’s not that we thought that because we were women, we would not be beaten up. It’s because we chose a peaceful revolution.
Dayna Ash, extracted from The National