UPDATE 2: March 20 2012

Al Akhbar Newspaper picks up the call to action story - click here

UPDATE 1: March 20 2012

March for Beirut's Phoenician Port and Roman Hippodrome
facebook event here - click to join

24th of March - Saturday 3:00pm until 4:00pm
Minat Al Hosn, behind Monroe Hotel, site of the Phoenician Port

Gathering point: Minat Al Hosn, behind Hotel Monroe.

The march aims for the following:
-Denouncing the reluctance of the government and lax approach towards launching the necessary
projects to valorize the many archeological and historical sites in Beirut.
-To protect the Phoenician port of Beirut, on plot 1398
-The reversal of the ministry of culture's decision to allow the 'integration' of the Beirut Roman
Hippodrome In Wadi Abou Jmil, into a development project, especially that the Hippodrome is on
the list of culturally relevant monuments in Beirut.

Let's save the few remaining archeological sites we still have left. they are the last remaining historical link between our past and us.
Let's safeguard this cultural heirloom for our children, and our children's children!

History, Culture and Identity over Politics: Thank you for NOT bringing along any visual or slogan related to any political, religious or commercial affiliation.

Politics have no place in our meeting. This is a gathering of Lebanese, paying tribute to their rich ancestry and reconnecting with it.

---


Solidere, and the company that owns the property, Beirut Trade, did not recognize the minister of culture’s decision and continued to procrastinate over approving it. (Photo: Al-Akhbar - Archive)

original article Al-Akhbar

By: Bassam Alkantar
Published Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Despite an earlier preservation order, another of Lebanon’s archaeological treasures is to be “integrated” into an upmarket commercial development.

Shortly before Saudi monarch Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz’s visit to Lebanon in July 2010, former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri stood on the balcony of his downtown Beirut residence alongside his then Minister of Culture Salim Warde.

Hariri turned to Warde and told him: “I am supposed to receive his majesty King Abdallah on this balcony.” He then pointed across to property number 1370 in the Wadi Abu Jamil district, and asked the minister to have the department of antiquities clean it.

Weeds and trees had sprung up in record time and covered the site: Beirut’s Roman-era hippodrome, the second to be discovered in Lebanon after the Tyre Hippodrome. Lebanon’s hippodromes are two of the five known to be in the Levant – after those in Caesarea in Palestine, Jerash in Jordan, and Bosra in Syria.

Beirut’s hippodrome is considered the grandest of them all. Its amphitheaters are several meters high and its race track is more than 90 meters long.

The cleaning process around this structure was not without obstacles. The culture ministry required permits from the prime minister’s office, which referred it to Solidere, the Hariri-founded company for the reconstruction of Beirut. But Solidere had apparently denied staff from the ministry’s directorate of antiquities access to the site since it had been excavated – as it has done with all archaeological finds on its real estate.

UPDATE 4: March 20, 2012

New TV glorifies Ali Mahfouz – The Man who beat up & kidnapped The Ethiopian domestic worker.




UPDATE 3: March 14, 2012

Ali Mahfouz's Facebook Profile


UPDATE 2: March 14, 2012

The Ethiopian domestic worker whose beating outside her country's consulate was widely publicized on video committed suicide Wednesday morning, Ethiopia’s consul general in Lebanon confirmed to The Daily Star.

Alem Dechasa, 33, hanged herself using her bed sheets between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m., Ethiopian General Consul Asaminew Debelie Bonssa said doctors told him. He spoke to The Daily Star while returning from the hospital Psychiatrique de la Croix Hospital, known as Deir al-Salib. Police took her to the hospital after the incident.

The video released by LBCI last week showed Dechasa moaning as a man, later identified as Ali Mahfouz, beat her and forced her into a car. According to Bonssa, who said Dechassa was in Lebanon illegally, the incident took place two weeks prior to its release. Mahfouz said Dechasa had previously attempted suicide.

Bonssa said he saw Dechasa Saturday and she appeared fine. Bonssa also said doctors told him they checked on her at 5 a.m. this morning and when they returned at 6 a.m. she was dead.

Next step, creating a framework for accountability: the Valet Code of Conduct.

2012 we take back the streets.

---

UPDATE 3 - Feb 8 2011: Incident à Beyrouth entre un voiturier et un automobiliste, la blogosphère en ébullition
Par Elie WEHBE | olj.com | 08/02/2012
L’Orient-Le Jour

LIBAN L'affaire portée devant la justice; sur Twitter, les témoignages se multiplient.

Beyrouth, dimanche 5 février, 3h30 du matin. Samer Karam, qui sort d’une soirée entre amis, se rend à la rue Bliss, à Beyrouth, pour contenter une petite faim avant de rentrer chez lui. Il gare sa voiture devant le snack "Charlie's hot dog", un kiosque adjacent à "Zaatar w Zeit", restaurant et chaîne de fast-food libanais. C'est à ce moment que la soirée tourne mal.

"Avant même que je sorte de ma voiture, un employé de la société "VIP Parking Control" (valet parking) s'est approché et m’a demandé de déplacer mon véhicule en m’expliquant que cette place est réservée aux clients de Zaatar w Zeit", explique Samer Karam dans un entretien accordé à L'Orient-Le Jour. "J’ai tenté de lui faire comprendre que cet espace de stationnement se situe sur la voie publique et qu'il n'a pas le droit de m'interdire de me garer", ajoute-t-il.

Selon M. Karam, le voiturier s'est alors énervé et lui a crié dessus. "Il a essayé de monter dans ma voiture en ouvrant violemment la porte. Je l'en ai empêché à plusieurs reprises", précise le Libanais. "Mais il n’a pas renoncé et a tenté à nouveau d'arracher ma ceinture de sécurité pour me sortir de la voiture", poursuit M. Karam qui affirme avoir crié pour attirer l'attention des passants. "Il a fallu que trois hommes interviennent pour l'éloigner de moi", conclut-il.

Choqué, Samer Karam contacte la police à qui il explique l’incident. Selon M. Karam, le valet parking de VIP a, pour sa part, nié en bloc. Le policier en charge de l’affaire conseille alors aux deux hommes de régler l’affaire à l’amiable afin d'éviter de passer la nuit au commissariat.

Read more here: http://www.lorientlejour.com/category/%C0+La+Une/article/744171/Incident+.html

Beirut, Lebanon



This story is big in Lebanon and is being talked about on Arabic websites throughout the world. Here is the story. Al-Akhbar was the first media to reveal the story. His name has been suppressed in Arab media but New TV yesterday revealed his name: Prince Salman Bin Faysal bin Muhammad bin `Abdul-`Aziz. He was drinking hard last Saturday in downtown Beirut and parked his car in a marked "no parking" spot. A passing traffic cop passed on his motorcycle and proceed to give the Prince a ticket. The Prince emerges with his entourage, very drunk, and proceeded to insult the cop and the Lebanese people and saying that "we bought this downtown area". A group of young Lebanese (25 or so) gathered and were offended at the sight: so they proceeded to beat the shit out of the Saudi prince. The Lebanese Internal Security Forces (Hariri-run) were dispatched to the scene and arrested the cop--kid you not. The prince was hospitalized and the cop was forced by his bosses to go and offer an apology to the Prince. Yesterday, the Lebanese police arrested the 25 Lebanese. This is not it: the Hariri parliamentary bloc met and said: "In the last period, cases and practices that violate the rules and laws have been repeated against Arab and foreign tourists, the last one of which happened in downtown Beirut where an attack was perpetrated against an Arab citizen." I kid you not. This last passage was a verbatim translation of the official weekly statement by the Hariri Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc. (source-- Angry Arab)


tags: saudi, prince, ksa, police, assault, beat, beaten, apology, kingdom of saudi arabia, illegal, insult, lebanon, downtown, beirut, video, youtube, drunk, alcohol, scandal, new tv, parking, policeman, officer, angry arab, mustaqbal, hariri, isf, internal security force, al-akhbar, salman bin faysal bin mohammad bun abdul aziz al saud

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