BEIRUT: Usually the kingdom of water tanks and satellite dishes, Lebanon’s rooftops have recently been graced by unlikely scenes of locked-down residents fleeing their flats.
Deprived of rehearsal rooms or workshops by restrictions imposed to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, or just needing some extra breathing space, many people have found solace without leaving their buildings.
Several have ventured onto their roofs to escape the lockdown after taking to the streets in recent months as part of nationwide protests against rulers deemed corrupt and inept.
AFP photographer Joseph Eid spent weeks scaling staircases to see how people have taken over underused rooftops, whose only visitors used to be caretakers, plumbers and electricians.
“When confinement started, I soon couldn’t take it anymore, and that’s when I thought of checking out the roof,” said Sherazade Mami, a Tunisian dancer who has been living in Beirut since 2016.
Every day, she walks up to the ninth floor of her building with her water, her mat and her music to stretch and practice.
Like others discovering their rooftops during the lockdown, Mami said her outlook on the city had changed.
“Once you’re up there, you realize — I have an amazing view on the whole of Beirut. It’s beautiful, the city is so quiet,” she said of the sprawling metropolis usually known for its noise and chaotic traffic.
“You can hear the birds singing, you’re under the sun, it’s heaven ... It’s better than rehearsing in the theater in some ways,” she added.
A bird’s eye view of Beirut around sunset since mid-March would show largely empty streets and shuttered shops at ground level, but unusual activity above.
On a hedgehopping flight over the city, maybe yoga instructors Rabih Al-Medawar and his wife Alona Aleksandrova could be spotted trying out new acrobatic moves on their roof.
Traveling north toward the seaside town of Byblos, Lebanese gymnast Karen Dib might appear, tumbling down the red mat she had laid out on the top of her building.
And in Tripoli, Lebanon’s main northern city, artist and activist Hayat Nazer might be glimpsed working on her latest canvas.
Others too have been heading upstairs to sunbathe, read or smoke a shisha water pipe.
Nazer said she hoped the weeks of lockdown would leave a positive mark on the way residents thought of their city.
“I really hope people will start planting and greening their roofs to help the environment,” she said.
“They have been underused. You can do sports there, organize barbecues, have parties.”
Mami, the dancer, said she would not forsake her roof when the lockdown ended and her theater reopened its doors.
“I have found a place where I feel free and I will continue to use it,” she said.
Lebanon rooftops bustle as coronavirus shifts life upstairs
Lebanon rooftops bustle as coronavirus shifts life upstairs
- Several Lebanese citizens have ventured onto their roofs to escape the lockdown
Police video shows Vince McMahon’s 100 mph car crash in Connecticut
Newly released police video shows former WWE executive Vince McMahon ram his luxury sportscar into the rear end of another vehicle on a Connecticut highway last summer as he was being followed by a state trooper.
McMahon, now 80, was driving his 2024 Bentley Continental GT at more than 100 mph on the Merritt Parkway when he crashed in the town of Westport, according to state police.
A trooper’s dashcam video shows McMahon accelerating away, then braking too late to avoid crashing into the back of a BMW. The Bentley then swerves into a guardrail and careens back across the highway, creating a cloud of dirt and car parts.
“Why were you driving all over 100 mph?” state police Detective Maxwell Robins asked McMahon after catching up to the wrecked Bentley, which can cost over $300,000.
“I got my granddaughter’s birthday” McMahon replied, explaining he was on his way to see her. The encounter was recorded on police bodycam video.
No one was seriously injured in the July 24 crash, which happened the same day that WWE legend Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack in Florida.
Besides damage to the rear of the BMW, another vehicle driving on the opposite side of the parkway was struck by flying debris. The driver of that third car happened to be wearing a WWE shirt, according to the police video.
McMahon was cited for reckless driving and following too closely. A state judge in October allowed McMahon to enter a pretrial probation program that will result in the charges being erased from his record next October if he successfully completes the program. He was also ordered to make a $1,000 charitable contribution.
McMahon’s lawyer, Mark Sherman, said the crash was just an accident.
“Not every car accident is a crime,” Sherman said. “Vince’s primary concern during this case was for the other drivers and is appreciative that the court saw this more of an accident than a crime that needed to be prosecuted.”
State police said Robins was trying to catch up to McMahon on the parkway and clock his speed before pulling him over. They said the incident was not a pursuit, which happens when police chase someone trying to flee officers. They also said it did not appear McMahon was trying to escape — though in the video the detective suggests otherwise.
“I’m trying to catch up to you and you keep taking off,” Robins says.
“No, no no. I’m not trying to outrun you,” McMahon says.
An accident information summary provided to the media shortly after the crash did not mention that a trooper was following McMahon.
The Associated Press obtained the videos Wednesday through a public records request. They were first obtained by The Sun newspaper.
The trooper’s bodycam video also shows him asking McMahon whether he was looking at his phone when the crash happened. McMahon said he was not and adds that he hadn’t driven his car in a long time.
After Robins tells McMahon that his car is fast, McMahon replies, “Yeah, too fast.”
The videos also show McMahon talking to the driver he rear-ended. Barbara Doran, of New York City, told the AP last summer that McMahon expressed his concern for her and was glad she was OK. She said she was heading to a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard at the time of the crash.
After McMahon was given the traffic summons, he shook hands with Robins and another trooper and they wished him well.
McMahon stepped down as WWE’s CEO in 2022 amid a company investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. He also resigned as executive chairman of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE, in 2024, a day after a former WWE employee filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against him. McMahon has denied the allegations. The lawsuit remains pending.
McMahon bought what was then the World Wrestling Federation in 1982 and transformed it from a regional wrestling company into a worldwide phenomenon. Besides running the company with his wife, Linda, who is now the US education secretary, he also performed at WWE events as himself.
