Beirut 20/12/2019

In the past few days, we have witnessed an increase in violence in the streets: violence by security forces against the protestors; violence by groups claiming allegiance to political parties in positions of authority against the uprising; and violence by certain groups claiming to be part of the uprising against the security forces. This scene ranged from Jal El Dib to Riad El Solh and Martyrs’ squares, and to Sidon, Nabatieh, Kfar-Roumman, and other areas.

This systematic tension in recent days has been accompanied by intense efforts from various political parties to direct the commissioning scenes, starting with the exit of Saad Al-Hariri to the assignment of Hassan Diab, and what followed of protests, road blockades, and night-time appearances of armed individuals which we are still witnessing until this moment.

It became evident that there were those who prepared the scene of confrontation in the street between the two axes, both part of the actual authority, even if some are still holding on to their position in the purported authority, while others have escaped from their responsibilities to hide amongst the people who rise up against all the actual parties in authority.

All this is happening and the society slips day after day, hour after hour, into a financial collapse where people are losing their income and begging portions of their savings from the banks who have become outside the rule of law, so they decide what they want and however they want, without any sense of responsibility towards the law nor towards the vital needs of their depositors.

Whether on the basis of conspiracy or incompetence, there is no difference, here are the parties of the actual authority, with its two groups linked to two regional and international axes, wrestling and negotiating, opening thus the doors wide to implement all external agendas, through the vessel of sectarian tensions, until we reached the stage that a bastard video from beyond the seas could have the capacity to burn the country. It is no secret to anyone that problems have begun to appear within some of these forces in both groups, until the ally felt the burden of his ally and expressed it publicly.

We, in the movement of Citizens of a State (Mouwatinoun wa Mouwatinat Fi Dawla), are very concerned about these developments. We warn those who are delusional that the intersection of interests between their regional or international patrons and those of the regional or international patrons of their opponents could protect the country’s security from spiraling out of control. They need to re-examine the situation, and to remember that the series of security tensions during the financial collapse we are witnessing is a very dangerous path. The illusion of controlling it may be fatal for everyone, and thus fatal for our society.

Instead of facing the reality of the financial bankruptcy in which the society is drowning and the reality of procedural bankruptcy in which the authorities are floundering, they seek to kidnap people from the reality of their concerns and to set a violent agenda that follows foreign forces’ interests, betting that fear of the return of sectarian wars in their cities and neighborhoods will force people to accept the collapse of their hopes, and the loss of their life’s savings.

The monster of a failed authority growls and reveals its teeth like a wounded beast.

We said it before and we repeat it today more than ever: having people in the street facing authority is an honor, but having people against each other in the street is a crime scene.