“You would have been better off keeping quiet,” said Nadim Bitar, indignant about the statements made by the Lebanese political class on the first anniversary of the explosion in the port of Beirut. “But instead of keeping their mouths shut, they pretend to be innocent lambs and promise the punishment of the guilty with fine words.” “Yet it is these criminals who are responsible for the downfall of Lebanon.”
It is difficult to understand what Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun was thinking when he promised Tuesday evening “from the depths of my conscience the punishment of the guilty and the resurrection of Lebanon”. The Maronite politician (82) had received a letter from the security authorities three weeks before the detonation in the port. It warned of the “immense dangers” and an “impending catastrophe” if the ammonium nitrate stored in Hall 12 was not immediately removed from the port.
Instead of taking the initiative, Aoun put the responsibility on the Ministry of Transport, which did not receive the warning letter sent by post until the day of the explosion.
Because of his “negligence and ignorance” Nadim wants to “bring him and his cronies to the gallows”. The hotel manager is one of 300,000 Lebanese, maybe even 500,000 Lebanese, as reported by some local radio stations, who gathered yesterday on the two-story city highways at the Beirut port to demand “peace and justice” for Lebanon. There were also many religious dignitaries, Christians and Muslims among the demonstrators. They walked amicably side by side.
In their hands they held framed photos of the 218 Lebanese and foreigners who were killed on August 4, 2020. “Never4give” – never forgotten – was written on one of the banners, “We are hostage to a government of murderers” on another. (wrase)
