Lunches all round as downtown Beirut hums back to life

By Weedah Hamzah Mar 11, 2007, 18:59 GMT

Beirut - Downtown Beirut, a ghost city for the past three months amid a political standoff, hummed back to life Sunday as people thronged restaurants offering free or reduced-price lunches.

People walked shoulder-to-shoulder under the archways of the shopping streets, and terraces were filled as families tucked into rich dishes and puffed water pipes amid the laughter of children.

'I haven't been here for three months because of the opposition sit-in. We were scared - but today we decided to defy our fear and bring the children,' said Najla abu Merhi, a mother of two, in a typical sentiment of the hundreds thronging the area.

'We're waiting for a table to have lunch and enjoy the afternoon in a place we've missed coming to,' said another delighted patron, Sima abu Arraj.

'Our orders used to be in the hundreds - but in the past three months they dropped to 10 or 20 a day,' said a waiter at one of the restaurants now back doing a booming, if largely free, trade.

'Today it's like old times. The place is packed - but the menu does not include political disputes,' he added.

The overall feeling towards political leaders was one of 'enough is enough', and towards the owners of the restaurants one of 'we're defying our fears and coming again to put you back in business.'

The area's once vibrant shops, cafes and restaurants have been closed since the launch of an open-ended sit-in by the pro-Syrian opposition on December 1 to force the Western-backed government to resign.

Tents used by the opposition groups block roads leading to the governmental palace in the central district.

It has meant business owners in the area face an unprecedented struggle. According to the head of the restaurant syndicate, Paul Ariss, 70 businesses have already closed, laying off 400 staff.

Fear that the continued sit-in will put more restaurants out of business, a newly established civil movement called 'March 11' invited all Lebanese - irrespective of their political and religious beliefs - to go to downtown for a free or reduced-price lunch.

Merhi Abu Merhi, the head of March 11 organization, said: 'This free invitation is intended to ease the pressure on people and help restaurant business and shops in the area revive for one day.'

'Let us have lunch and raise voices against a civil war,' read banners hung across the area. The group has also splashed posters proclaiming 'the country has had enough', and urging political leaders to sit together and end the political crisis.

Lebanon has been in turmoil since the 2005 assassination of five- time premier Rafik Hariri which was widely blamed on Syria, which was forced to end 29 years of military domination in its small neighbour.

Since the Syrian withdrawal, Lebanon has been shaken by further bomb attacks - which many also blame on Syria - plus last summer's conflict between Israel and Hezbollah killed over 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and a Hezbollah-led opposition determined to oust the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.

All this has badly hit the downtown area, raising the spectre of the destruction it already underwent when Moslem and Christian militias fought fierce battles during the 1975-1990 civil war.

It was not until the late 1990s when massive reconstruction was launched by the late Hariri, transforming the area into the luxury pedestrian sector with 500 upscale boutiques and 120 restaurants and open-air cafes which on Sunday burst back to life.