The Amchit story

I'm not going to dwell on this, but take it from me since I hail from this village, first off the room was filled with a majority of clandestine workers, our town is by no mean opposed to refugee presence, but when the numbers grow there has to be some restrictions. Why ? Well go around town and ask about the number of robberies that have been going on, along with sketchy stuff that happens late at night. The funny part is that those stories never made it to the media, because for as long as I can remember the army always took care of it (they have a base), because the ISF (darak) never bothered to show up.

For context those municipal officers know the law and know their limits very well, which is why in 90% of the cases where they suspect or catch anyone they'll phone the appropriate authorities to handle it.

Go and have a walk around the neighborhood where they were caught, I'll tell you, it's sketchy as it gets, it's called ''hay al 3arbeh'' and you can ask anyone and they'll tell you this room with 30 or so Syrians has been a nuisance for a while. So one night the municipality got one too many calls and they sent their men inside.

Those men ? they're 5 ex-commando and army men, of the sweetest and gentlest nature, and the one thing they love above all is their country and village (we're underrated when it comes to being crazy for our town, ask about akhwat amchit). Those guys are so self-disciplined it's scary, they came in and quickly realized they needed backup, so what they did was call the ISF in the jbeil serail at midnight, and by 2am they still weren't there. it's a 5 minute drive, and cops couldn't be bothered to come let alone send a van because the jails were over populated.

By 2 am they call the army, and apologize for not having space as well, so they gave them a 24 hour opportunity to leave (for the workers without papers) and they did so.

Now imagine being surrounded by 30 guys with nothing but your fists, a couple of zip ties and maybe a stick or whatever. Tell me what YOU would do, I mean come on be realistic. The way I like to see it is those municipal cops did restrain them but they did so in order to maintain order. One of them even told me he was more afraid of the neighbors coming out and taking a shot at them than the workers trying to make a run for it, let alone try and pull a weapon on them, which wasn't an unfamiliar sight in any case.

This whole ordeal got more of a buzz than it deserved, why ? Because of sectarian reasons, and political ones. Ex-president Suleiman is determined to go after the current municipality, and the interior minister Mashnouk is trying to prove himself. It's a really well orchestrated scenario that was a total flop, refugees here are glad that the municipality is filtering the influx, citizens are demanding a more responsible albeit even sensible approach to security.


For context I'm really involved in the local environment and security, and let me tell you those officers acted in an appropriate manner, which was taken WAY out of context. Want to know something funny ? Go after the ISF and other apparatuses, they're the ones who are abusing their power. I see them daily since my fire station is in the same building, and I have the unfortunate chance to work with some of them...

/r/lebanon Thread Link - pri.org