BEIRUT: Scores of women marched through the streets of Beirut on Saturday to protest against sexual harassment and bullying and demanding rights including the passing of citizenship to children of Lebanese women married to foreigners.
The march started outside the American University of Beirut, west of the capital, and ended in a downtown square that has been witnessing daily protests for more than seven weeks.
Nationwide demonstrations in Lebanon broke out Oct. 17 against proposed taxes on WhatsApp calls turned into a condemnation of the country’s political elite, who have run the country since the 1975-90 civil war. The government resigned in late October, meeting a key demand of the protesters.
“We want to send a message against sexual harassment. They say that the revolution is a woman, therefore, if there is a revolution, women must be part of it,” said protester Berna Dao. “Women are being raped, their right is being usurped, and they are not able to pass their citizenship.”
Activists have been campaigning for years so that parliament drafts a law that allows Lebanese women married to foreigners pass their citizenship to their husbands and children.
Earlier this year, Raya Al-Hassan became the first woman in the Arab world to take the post of interior minister. The outgoing Cabinet has four women ministers, the highest in the country in decades.
Lebanon is passing through a crippling economic and financial crisis that has worsened since the protests began.
During the women’s protest in Riad Solh Square, a man set himself on fire before people nearby extinguished the flames. His motivation was not immediately clear and an ambulance came shortly afterward and evacuated him.
Also on Saturday, outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri appealed to more countries to help Lebanon in its crisis to import essential goods. The request made in a letter to the leaders of Germany, Spain and Britain, came a day after Hariri sent similar letters to other countries including Saudi Arabia, US, Russia and China.
Lebanese women march in Beirut against sexual harassment
Lebanese women march in Beirut against sexual harassment
- Protesters call for law allowing Lebanese women married to foreigners to pass their citizenship to their husbands and children
- Women also protest against sexual harassment and bullying
Israeli forces arrest jewel thieves posing as soldiers in West Bank
- The suspects had arrived in the Palestinian town “in a vehicle resembling a security vehicle”
- Abu Alan said the individuals were arrested about an hour later and that the stolen items were recovered
JERUSALEM: Israeli forces arrested two Israelis and a Palestinian on Tuesday after they allegedly posed as soldiers to rob a jewelry shop in the occupied West Bank, the military and police said.
Officers arrested the suspects “while they were allegedly fleeing the scene of an armed robbery carried out at a jewelry store in the town of Dahariya” in the territory’s south, Israeli police said in a statement.
It added that the suspects had arrived in the Palestinian town “in a vehicle resembling a security vehicle, including emergency lights, while wearing (Israeli military)-style uniforms, protective vests, helmets, and carrying firearms.”
Dahariya mayor Akram Abu Alan told AFP that at around 10:30 am (0830 GMT), a group of individuals “got out of a vehicle wearing Israeli army uniforms and carrying weapons.”
“Posing as soldiers, they stormed a gold shop, stole large quantities of gold, threatened civilians, and damaged parts of the shop,” he said.
Abu Alan said the individuals were arrested about an hour later and that the stolen items were recovered.
The suspects were picked up in a joint operation involving Israeli police, border police and military forces after being located in the town of Samu’a, near the West Bank’s southern border with Israel, the police said.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
The police said the three suspects were Bedouins from southern Israel, while the military in a separate statement said they were “a Palestinian and two Israeli civilians.”
Bedouins are a semi-nomadic Arab people who, among other places, live in Israel and the West Bank, and therefore are sometimes Palestinian and sometimes Israeli citizens.
