Rallies, Blood Drives in N. Lebanon to Aid Syria Refugees
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Hundreds of protesters hit the streets in north Lebanon Friday to support the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, organizing blood drives and marching towards the volatile border.
Some 500 Lebanese and Syrians rallied near a border crossing in the Akkar district of Wadi Khaled, which straddles the Syrian border, amid tight security.
Around 500 others, mainly Islamists, staged a sit-in in the northern port city of Tripoli, which has witnessed clashes between Sunnis and minority Alawite Muslims loyal to the Assad family.
Student activists across Tripoli also set up a handful of tents to host blood drives and gather donations to aid injured Syrian refugees who have regularly crossed into Lebanon in recent weeks to seek medical care.
"We began this campaign after it became clear that the Lebanese government and the institutions that should be concerned with this cause were not doing their job," said Mohammed Taha, a Lebanese student who was helping set up the makeshift donation centers.
"All the money we gather here will be donated to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and only to these refugees."
Ahmed Moussa, another student activist in Tripoli, said the grassroots campaign to aid refugees had begun weeks ago.
"We started by setting up donation booths outside mosques after Friday prayers and distributing discs documenting human rights violations in Syria to passers-by for free," Moussa told Agence France Presse.
Thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon as the state cracks down on a popular revolt against the Assad regime, now in its tenth month.
The Syrian army last month laced the Lebanese border with landmines in a bid to curb arms smuggling and hampering army defectors and refugees from fleeing.
Syrian troops have also staged deadly incursions into border villages in neighboring Lebanon, the last of which was on Tuesday, when three Lebanese men were killed by Syrian gunfire in Wadi Khaled.
The United Nations estimated earlier this month that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the crackdown since protests against the Assad regime began in mid-March.
30 December 2011, 22:19
50
you will donate money? you will take them to your own pocket and go marry your 4th wife as usual. Sunnis in general are very generous people, to be honest, but the sunnis of lebanon, oh my god, i have never seen anyone so cheap and selfish like them. They dont donate a single lira unless they know they can get back something from it and after they have given you this money they will tell the entire world about it and make sure you never forget it.
More importantly, These refugees must be stupid if they accept blood from these people. The gay sex is very popular in north lebanon, especislly among the middle aged men, they go get dirty with men in barber shops, hamams and other places and then go home to their wifes to beat them. God knows what kind of diseases they have and this blood isent even tested probably.
With friends like these, the syrian refugees dont need enemies. It was after all, in northern lebanon that a huge chunk of the murdered syrian sunnis in lebanon were killed.
30 December 2011, 23:05
00
it is absolutely crucial to the govmt and the moukhabarat el jaysh not to take sides....
30 December 2011, 23:26
13
oh! we have another great political analyst from amal party!!!! let s welcome lebaneso_amal who seems also very powerful in his analysis!
very tolerant and seems to know everything ! and knows a lot about gay sex maybe he tried it with those he is insulting now as he gives us a well documented report on the habits of people from the north! that is what we call arguments and facts!
bravo lebaneso_amal for your intelligence and insight! keep going! and next time don t forget the insults!
31 December 2011, 01:06
00
Peace... you funny!!! But you are absolutely correct about amal boy.
31 December 2011, 03:13
00
The Amal lovers all have to go undergroung and take it from Nassy. No wonder they want the world to be like them.
31 December 2011, 07:42
01
from your founder who is still in a freezer, to your current leader, to your women and children.... you are all thugs! you are their best specimen and spokesperson:)
31 December 2011, 15:55
10
The blood of filthy Sunni crazies mixes well with the blood of other filthy Sunni crazies.
31 December 2011, 18:18
10
oh amal boy is angry, we have discovered his doings in tripoli in the hamamms!!
poor frustrated boy... don t cry, we pity you
31 December 2011, 23:02
10
Wow naharnet removed my comment to peace why? Because it had a link from a march14 site that prooved my point? Truly pathetic.
