round two of civil war, that is.

i'm not sure if anyone here has heard about the terrorist takeover currently consuming my city. it all started with a "peaceful protest" by the "worker's union", protesting "rising prices". in other words, it was an excuse for the opposition to wreak havoc, start a war, and take what they believe to be theirs: beirut.

said protest began on wednesday and, after dropping all pretenses, quickly degenerated into a fest of savagery and violence. rocks were thrown, reporters were beaten, bullets and RPG rockets were fired into the air killing anyone unfortunate enough to be in the way of their descent, cars were blown up, tires were burnt, and hundreds of roads were blocked.

mm hmm. i'm loving the peacefulness here. maybe it's just me, but i'm having a little trouble seeing the connection between random acts of violence and rising prices. perhaps i'm just too ignorant to understand how breaking things and blocking roads will lower prices of products which, by the way, are rising EVERYWHERE, and not just in lebanon.

but moving on. this was all just on wednesday, before the confrontation began. wednesday was a picnic compared to thursday. the leader of the aforementioned gang of uncivilized vagrants, a man who is the absolute picture of dishonesty, decided to make a speech. said speech inspired hundreds of his dogs to take to the streets and fight.

to be fair, they weren't the only ones to blame in the streetfighting. it takes two to tango, right? but the fact is they instigated the hostilities and they were the ones who began shelling the government party's office which happens to be 2 blocks down from my house. every few minutes my house shook. this carried on through the night, until the shooting abated. the opposition had captured the office, and continued to capture the rest of the city.

bye-bye, beirut.