Good morning, guys from Batroun, Lebanon. We are driving down here. We have Luke.
We’ve got Fuad. And today is a
very unique day, a day that has was a very tough day one year ago,
when the Beirut explosion happened here in the port in Lebanon.
And so, there is a very large memorial, and protest going on.
And we're going to be driving down there right now. We'll talk a little bit more
about what-- what's happening down there, once we
get there but we're hoping we can get down there after hearing there's going
to be some road closures. And on our way down here, we're seeing
quite a few military choppers flying around just kind of doing laps, it looks
like. Based on what I heard from Fuad, the military's
doing very thorough checks at each checkpoint which is good obviously to
reduce any-- any further risks that could happen
with such a large gathering of people. But once we-- once we get a little bit
closer, I’ll share more of what we're gonna be doing today.
So, on our way down, we're making a quick pit stop because I was just looking at
the live love Beirut's Instagram account, and it says for the victims joining us
on the streets today. We're black to stand together in solidarity, change your
profile photos to black. So, we're gonna stop at Fuad's place right now, and see
if we can find some black shirts before making it down. We went through one
checkpoint which was just crossing from Batroun into--
What is that another province, bro? Yeah we're in like Jbeil right now. Okay
we're in Jbeil, yeah passing Byblos. And so we got another 15 minutes to
Jounieh before we send it down to head-- head down to Beirut. Alright, so
we've made a quick pit stop over here at Fuad's place in Jounieh, and we have
our black shirts on to show proper supports. Yeah.
The military, and police are lined up along the streets here. The main highways
to make sure that the roads aren't going to be shut down because that might be
part of the protest strategy to slow down traffic in these
high intensity traffic areas. So, we'll show you a little bit more once
we get down there, if there's any other updates on the way. Otherwise, we'll see
you once we get to the protest. Alright, so we found a parking spot over here.
We’re gonna see if we can get a hat, one of those to wear down.
Well, let me explain a bit the Lebanese flag. Yeah tell us. The red mark of-- the
red-- The red stripes over here represent like
the blood of the martyrs. Yeah. Making the Lebanon as a country or like seeking for
independence. The white like-- it's
about peace. The cedar tree because it's like
kind of unique all over the world to have cedar street, and also it shows
about the forests in Lebanon. It's like for your rich forests, and rich in nature,
and like you also like the cedar street because it's kind of unique around the
whole world. So, we just got these hats for about 50,000
Lebanese pounds. And as you can see, really nice hats,
and it's going to help with the sun. And we're supporting Lebanon, and the local
businesses here. So, Lebanon.
I think we have a-- a solid what 30-minute walk to get there. 30-20
minutes? 23-minute walk to get there which is good because that way you know
if something happens, where we need to get back to the car, and get out of here.
If we park too close then you know we could, we could get locked in Beirut. So,
we want to have that flexibility. So, we just went through the first kind
of walking checkpoint here, and I guess it gives you peace of mind
that it's gonna be pretty safe because the military is checking bags,
like even my tiny little bag here. I couldn't fit too much stuff, it's still
being checked for any sort of probably weapons, bombs or anything. So,
as you can see, it's really starting to streets are starting to be a bit more
dense with people. Right now?
So see right there, that says 4th of August in Arabic,
and one of these guys up here is a painting brought the spray paint with him.
So as you can see, he's doing another one
right up there, 4th of August, he's got the pre-created stencil.
Alright, so we're coming up on the fire station here, Fawad you were going to
tell me a little bit about it. So, if there were like a quick-- a quick
update. So, what happened during the explosion
day? Before the explosion, there was like fire going on.
Okay so,
a group of firefighters went down there to turn off the fires.
Unfortunately, they didn't know that it was an explosion.
When the fire started, they smell like firecrackers you know, voices off like
You know what I mean, happened they were there.
So like, they called for backup,
for help yeah, and the firefighters were all waiting to help over there.
So, they got down to get ready. They got down
like to the bus like their truck stations to get ready to wear their full
uniform, full kit, for the fire to be like safe,
the explosion happened. That’s what they told me that but if
they were like still but still up or a bit late,
I think they were like more casualties.
But like, thank God they are like, we have heroes like them over here
just like take care of our society. And,
thank God we have like those firefighters. I mean like, I feel proud
about those firefighters. Yeah, I mean we can go inside. Yeah let's go, and take a
look here. There
are like the firefighters, that were trying to
turn out the fire. These are the heroes,
like straight lines. Oh yeah, all of them up here? Yeah
and that's another one just like their pictures together.
So, as you can just see the mass destruction. That came from it all.
So, yeah this right here is one of the trucks they were using to put out the fire when it first happened here.
Right there is the memorial of the
driving through down the road. Fuad is it? Yeah I think, it's a memorial
for all the victims of the explosion, and the firefighters that like sacrifice
their lives to turn off-- to try to turn off the fire.
Yeah, real heroes man. Absolutely.
So, we've made it probably another 10 minutes down, we're starting to see
different areas of the port here. And as you can see you can see a lot of
the reminiscence of the explosion. Tell us maybe a bit more about it. So
that's the port over there, you see those cranes?
Yeah. That’s the port-- the port zone. Okay,
explosion. Explosion, yeah? If you see like the building over there, yeah it's kind
of broken. Yeah and there's a building over here.
It’s also like destroyed.
So, even after one year,
there are still places that are not fixed in a El Shafi or Maram Khalil or
all the cities that are around the port. These are old cities so, there was a risk
of old buildings falling down because the explosion was
so strong. Wow. Yeah. You see the silos over there,
they're like now broken silos where they contain the wheat
to make bread, and like food, daily food you know what I mean.
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So, we're coming up like right in front of where the explosion was. We're
actually seeing it from the other side. If you saw my other video, I saw the
other side of that building, took the drone up there but obviously now with no
cars on the road here, we can see the destruction like look at this gas
station right here, the whole top is just absolutely like caved in.
Looks like we've got quite a few people coming in this way for the-- the main
protest area here. Well, walking right up to this place,
it's pretty crazy. Look at all this.
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What was he yelling? I can't like say it in front of the camera.
Yeah so, it seems like the-- the barrier just got broken through, and they were
able to continue going. You know seeing water bottles get
thrown, and things are starting to pick up
quite a bit more.
Some of them are like offices to like logistics offices like freight forwarders. Oh
And third-party logistics, and next to them are like warehouses for like
three PL, third party logistics. Okay yeah.
What happened on 4 August?
She was at her mother's place at five afternoon.
At five, that they felt that something is shaking or the ground is shaking.
Her son was at the port, working at the general security.
He was like 15 days off. Yeah. And at this day, he went after the vacation or the
days off he went directly to the port. She checked what time it is,
And she thought her son was at her house because it's like 3:30 p.m.
He’ll be at the at his house, they thought there was some place it's called
Beit El Wasat, it's like a politician's place
but then they said it was the port. When she heard the port,
she looked at the clock, it was like around six. Yeah she was like oh my son
is at his house.
He left his job. I mean like his shift ended.
She called her husband. She was asking about her son where is he?
So he was a bit stressed. He said, I’ll call you later, and he-- I need to go to
the port, and he-- and he closed the line. He wants to check on Ali,
their child, her son.
He don't know, what's happening to him. So, he went from Mansourieh there's like a
place that's like next to Beirut. It took him three hours from
Mansourieh to the port. Usually like normal time, it will take you like 30
minutes, 50 minutes something like that. So, her child went to the hospital called--
and the hospital was like destroyed. There was all blood on the ground.
So, they went to the hospital, her husband,
and her young child to search for
for their child. So, the hospital was horrible over there,
the smell of the blood, the corpses. There were some people holding their organs, a
broken arm, torn out arm. It was like horrible, and the smell of the blood was
like really bad. They spent-- They spent the whole night
till the morning, searching for a hospital, and she was like kind of scared
for her son. Because she didn't know where he was? No, she saw her son.
They were like looking for a place to put him inside the hospital. They spent
the whole night, and till the morning because like his eyes were really bad.
She thought that his eyes were gone, and she was really scared. She can't hold-- she
can't hold on to what's happening because you know the mother's love. Yeah
absolutely. So, they were like standing with some
couple of firefighters, and co-workers filming what's happening over there. It's
like started as a small fire. Then they got afraid. One of them told them
just you need to leave. So, they were like leaving, they got inside the car. When
they were inside the car, the explosion happened like a huge shock wave. And
there was a guy, who was like gonna crash to them, and he crashed like not on them.
It was like seconds difference between them, and he crashed, and he died, and they
were like if they were not in the car they would like literally died. Yeah
it was really dangerous. Basically kept them alive.
So the guy, the co-worker or the guy that was with them, and told them to leave,
he has two kids, he stayed, the explosion happened, and he died, unfortunately.
These are one of the fallen heroes in Lebanon.
So, her son right now is a bit depressed, and sad to what happened. He was-- he was
in shock. He's still in shock. He can't believe what happened.
He wants to leave. Leave Lebanon, yeah? She told him it’s like my son, like God loves
you, Mary loves you, Virgin Mary loves you. She saved you, it's like a miracle.
And, he's like telling her what about my friends. My friends are still good
people good-- good people like kind of heroes here in Lebanon.
Why did this happen to them? And he's like depressed, going to work, just can't
believe when his shift will finish, and he just wanna leave.
She hopes that each drop from a mother's eye for her-- her deceased son or her sons who
are in pain or got injured in the explosion to burn their hearts because they are senseless.
[Speaking in Arabic]
I was like saying, God be with your family. She's like, thank you.
Thank you so much. So, we just heard that interview from--
from the mother here in Lebanon. Very tragic honest, I’m very speechless.
I don't really know what to say. I’ve never- never been to
a memorial ceremony for such a tragic thing. So, just you know hearing these
stories, what people had to go through, you can just I mean, you'll never know
what their pain feels like if you didn't experience it but it's you know-- it's
important to hear those moments that I mean she remembers
everything so on target for like even the exact time.
So very scary, very sad
but we're heading back now towards the-- the front of the port. At this
exact second, 365 days ago.
That is when this city had one of the most
tragic things that's happened to it, and right now
the whole city would be rumbling from one of the scariest days
this place has ever experienced. Speechless even thinking about it right now.
Alright, we just made it back to the car.
Really glad, we went down there, and got to experience it,
pay our respects, learn a little bit more about it.
And just you know, feel-- feel some of the pain that people went through
but that's-- that's pretty much it for today guys. Hope you've enjoyed this
video. If you want to see more videos in Lebanon, make sure to hit that
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