At nightfall, the relative calm of the day gives way to an ambient chaos between the bar terraces and the traffic. (L'Orient-Le Jour/Arthur Dumas)
“I stayed here during the entire war, since 1975. Until the Beirut port explosion,” said Emilie Nassar as she opened the door to her apartment. She lives in the Gemmayzeh neighborhood near a hotel, which can be seen from her garden. Here, the noise is daily.“Imagine yourself partying until 4 a.m. and then going to work around 6 or 7 a.m. It is okay once in a while, but not always.” Under these conditions, it is difficult to find decent time to rest. For several years, the neighborhoods of Gemmayzeh and Mar Mikhael, originally residential, have become the central gathering points for nights out in Beirut, to the detriment of their inhabitants’ peace.Collective mobilizationFaced with this recurring problem, the residents of the two neighborhoods decided to mobilize efforts within a committee. For the past six months, this committee carried...
“I stayed here during the entire war, since 1975. Until the Beirut port explosion,” said Emilie Nassar as she opened the door to her apartment. She lives in the Gemmayzeh neighborhood near a hotel, which can be seen from her garden. Here, the noise is daily.“Imagine yourself partying until 4 a.m. and then going to work around 6 or 7 a.m. It is okay once in a while, but not always.” Under these conditions, it is difficult to find decent time to rest. For several years, the neighborhoods of Gemmayzeh and Mar Mikhael, originally residential, have become the central gathering points for nights out in Beirut, to the detriment of their inhabitants’ peace.Collective mobilizationFaced with this recurring problem, the residents of the two neighborhoods decided to mobilize efforts within a committee. For the past six months, this...
