Lebanese Peaceful Demonstration in Canada

Flags in high at Yonge – Dundas Square in Toronto

By Aya Chouaib – Special Reporter Euro Canada News/ The Canadian National News

TORONTO – “ثورة” (pronounced ‘thaw-ra’) is the Arabic word for revolution, and the word that is being chanted by thousands of Lebanese protestors in a mass demonstration that swept across Lebanon on Thursday, October 17th 2019. The outburst of rage came after years of endemic corruption and government mismanagement, but the tipping point that fueled them was the introduction of illogical taxes, including a monthly tax on the popular messaging platform WhatsApp. Since then, the protests have burgeoned into a teeming fight for their right of life and freedom against a sectarian political system.

Contrary to a long history of division and sectarianism in this Middle East country – none of the protestors are fighting against each other. There is no division, and there are no differences. The citizens of Lebanon have beem gathering in solidarity, they are rising in unity, and they are refusing to let their voices be silenced.

Patriotism does not run thin in the Lebanese blood. The extensive Lebanese diaspora from around the World have risen and held demonstrations as a gesture of solidarity and support for their brothers and sisters back home. The Lebanese and Torontonians have joined together on Sunday for peaceful demonstration in Toronto Downtown at the popular Yonge-Dundas square. Their voices chanting, their hands bearing signs of resistance, they thrust back against a boundless oppression.

Sunday, October 20th 2019

Aya Chouaib – is a Journalism Student at The University of Toronto