Sick of Demonstrations?

The Hizballah-led opposition is planning another massive demonstration, to occur sometime before the 25th of this month, the day when a donor conference will meet in Paris to raise money for the reconstruction of Lebanon. This will be the third big opposition protest since their campaign to oust the Lebanese government began on December 1st, when I took the attached photo. Hizballah likes to keep the exact date of these things secret until a day or so beforehand, but the country is rife with rumors. A policeman told me it will be on the 23rd, and somehow I believe him purely because he's from the Bekka valley, a Hizballah stronghold.

Rumors aren't the only thing flying around Lebanon right now. Since about Christmas, almost everyone I know has gotten the flu or a very bad cold. The gossip is that all these demonstrations -- and the rustic living conditions in the protest campgrounds downtown -- have created a perfect environment for all sorts of unhealthy stuff. There's more than a little bit of sectarian snobbery about this theory: many urbane Beirutis have been complaining for some time about the "dirty" and "smelly" country bumpkins (read "Shi'ites") who have taken up residence in some prime city real estate. But you can't help hearing the hacking and sneezing when you go down to the camps for a visit. We'll see if some new epidemic appears after Jan 25th.

Andrew Lee Butters/Beirut