PROTESTERS AND LAWYERS CLASH OUTSIDE BEIRUT’S JUSTICE PALACE
A demonstrator said a judge insulted her, threatened to beat her and forced her out of the way with his car
A group of Lebanese protesters trying to block the entrance to Beirut’s Justice Palace clashed with lawyers yesterday.
The protesters hoped to maintain pressure on the country’s judicial system to investigate corrupt politicians as part of a wider protest against inequality and poor economic conditions in the country.
Sara, 23, said a lawyer attacked her as she was standing with three other people in front of the car park of the Beirut Bar Association building, which is connected to the Justice Palace.
“We were not aggressive and responded respectfully to lawyers who talked to us,” she said.
“But the lawyer started insulting us and pushing me in a very aggressive way until the police removed us.”
Sara spoke from outside the main entrance of the Justice Palace as a small protest of several dozen people continued yesterday afternoon.
“This is too much – he is a lawyer, he cannot act like this with people,” she said.
In a video of the incident seen by The National, the lawyer is seen shouting at Sara that the building is private property and that she cannot block it, before trying to stop the incident from being filmed.
“Go back to your university,” the lawyer can be heard shouting. A colleague who tried to defend the lawyer was struck in the face by protesters in a scuffle that cracked the glass of the revolving door to the building, said Ayman Raad, a lawyer who is part of a committee that supports protesters.
Both sides can sue each other over the incident, he said.
Another protester, Rabab Nasser, 24, who was also blocking an entrance to the Justice Palace, said that a prominent judge insulted her, threatened to beat her and forced her out of the way with his car.
Protesters said a third woman had suffered a scalp injury during the scuffles.
By late morning, the entrance to the Justice Palace had been reopened after lawyers argued that the protesters were blocking urgent legal procedures.
The state-run National News Agency said that hearings were adjourned because of the protest.
“We want judges to fight corruption,” said one of the protesters, Sara Baghdadi, 32.
“We know some follow political parties but there are some good judges who have good intentions. We’re here to push them to fight.”
Rana Abi Abdallah, 31, said: “We do not have a fair justice system – a lot of judges are bribed. This whole movement is to fight corruption.”
The demonstrations in Lebanon, which brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets during the first week of protests in mid-October, have shifted from mass rallies and roadblocks to smaller gatherings at public institutions deemed corrupt.
The protests pushed Prime Minister Saad Hariri to resign on October 29.
The country is now stuck in a political void that has compounded an already existing financial crisis as President Michel Aoun has yet to announce a date for binding parliamentary consultations.
Local media reported that he would do so in a television interview last night.
Corruption is one of the main drivers of the protests, triggered by a suggested tax increase.
Lebanon was ranked 138th out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perception Index.
Several political parties, including Hezbollah and the president’s Free Patriotic Movement, have promised to combat corruption and said corruption cases against prominent officials and politicians were launched in the few past weeks.
But protesters say they are not convinced. “We want to see action,” Mrs Abi Abdallah said. “We are fed up.”
We want judges to fight corruption. We know some follow political parties but there are some good judges
SARA BAGHDADI Protester