Graffiti sprayed near bank tower, the site of Oct. 17, 2019, protests in Aley. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
ALEY, Lebanon — Driving through the narrow mountain roads of Aley on a foggy afternoon, 34-year-old Alaa Sayegh, is vigilant. Although there are no visible checkpoints, certain areas are “highly securitized,” with political party supporters monitoring outsiders, he says as he makes a turn on the road leading to Aley’s “revolution fist,” which is placed on a traffic island below a bridge, and is similar to the one erected by Tarek Chehab in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square. This was the same site where many of the protests took place outside of Beirut during the Oct. 17 revolution. Many local activists pitched tents there, and Sayegh was among the first of them. Today, traffic has replaced the sit-ins, and the tents, having reportedly been almost burned down, have now been removed.Inside the Nadi cafe nearby, Reine Chahayeb, a graphic designer...
ALEY, Lebanon — Driving through the narrow mountain roads of Aley on a foggy afternoon, 34-year-old Alaa Sayegh, is vigilant. Although there are no visible checkpoints, certain areas are “highly securitized,” with political party supporters monitoring outsiders, he says as he makes a turn on the road leading to Aley’s “revolution fist,” which is placed on a traffic island below a bridge, and is similar to the one erected by Tarek Chehab in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square. This was the same site where many of the protests took place outside of Beirut during the Oct. 17 revolution. Many local activists pitched tents there, and Sayegh was among the first of them. Today, traffic has replaced the sit-ins, and the tents, having reportedly been almost burned down, have now been removed.Inside the Nadi cafe nearby, Reine Chahayeb, a...
