{"id":41512,"date":"2019-11-09T18:23:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-09T18:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41512"},"modified":"2019-11-09T18:23:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-09T18:23:23","slug":"revolution-wagon-lebanon-protests-a-boon-for-street-vendors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41512","title":{"rendered":"Revolution wagon: Lebanon protests a boon for street vendors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBEIRUT: The smells of grilled cheese and cooked corn waft over the protesters in the Lebanese capital \u2014 with daily crowds filling the capital\u2019s main squares, the movement has been a boon for street vendors.
Ibrahim is a plasterer by trade, but when he saw crowds flocking by the tens of thousands to Beirut\u2019s Martyrs\u2019 Square to protest against government corruption and incompetence, he knew it was not an opportunity to be missed.
One day, he\u2019s selling \u201ckaak,\u201d a round, savory Lebanese bread covered in sesame seeds. The next, it\u2019s corn on the cob or small trays of lupin beans dressed with cumin and lemon juice.
\u201cIt\u2019s better than being out of work,\u201d the stocky 27-year-old said.
Times have been tough for many months, he said, with the country hit by an economic crisis that has not spared the construction sector.
\u201cFor us, the revolution represents a new livelihood, and at the same time we are protesting with the people,\u201d Ibrahim said.
On good days, he earns between $35 and $40 with his food cart.
Forced to abandon his education before age 18, he has been taking care of his sick mother since his father passed away.
\u201cShe has no social security or pension, I spend my life paying for doctors and medicines,\u201d he said.
A short distance away, the square resounds to the rallying cries of the protest movement which has rocked Lebanon since October 17: \u201cRevolution! Revolution!\u201d and \u201cthe people want the fall of the regime.\u201d
A new group of protesters march past and Ibrahim quickly gets back to business, grabbing his cart from the car park where he had hidden it.
When the demonstrations swell, police do not bother with street vendors, Ibrahim said.
But when rallying points empty out, security forces confiscate vendors\u2019 goods and remind them that their activities are illegal.
A little further on, several protesters have gathered around a cart serving punnets of corn and beans that its owner has dubbed the \u201crevolution wagon.\u201d
Normally, Emad Hassan Saad plies his business on the corniche, Beirut\u2019s seaside promenade.
\u201cWe sell more here because there are more people,\u201d the 29-year-old said.
He has brought on three friends to help him out. The first peels lemons, the second chops them and the third pulls ears of corn from a pot of boiling water.
\u201cThe rallies are a job opportunity for these young people, even if it\u2019s only temporary,\u201d Dana Zayyat, 21, said, munching on lupin beans.
Her friend Jana Kharzal agrees. \u201cThis revolution has allowed young people who are poor to work, those who don\u2019t have the chance to study or to rent a shop.\u201d
Youth unemployment is chronic in Lebanon, with more than 30 percent out of work, while almost a third of Lebanon\u2019s population lives in poverty.
Some vendors complain of the treatment they receive at the hands of security forces, even at their usual selling spots like the corniche, popular with Sunday strollers.
One of their number, who did not want to give his name, said he had had to pay dozens of fines the equivalent of $300, or 20 day\u2019s take.
Despite the risks, the manager of a hookah rental service took his chances and set up shop among the protesters.
He gets to work in the evenings, when the demonstrations swell and police attention is elsewhere.
Fifteen or so of his water pipes are lined up near a concrete wall in a car park in Martyrs\u2019 Square, where his employees are busy serving customers.
He\u2019ll leave \u201cwhen the political class leaves,\u201d he says between draws on a hookah.
Not far away, a frail elderly woman offers red roses for sale to passers-by from where she is seated on the ground, despite the late hour.
A brown scarf encircles her weathered face and when protesters ask why she is out so late, she answers that she has no choice.
\u201cThis country pushes the poor into the grave,\u201d she says in a weak voice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT: The smells of grilled cheese and cooked corn waft over the protesters in the Lebanese capital \u2014 with daily crowds filling the capital\u2019s main squares, the movement has been a boon for street vendors.Ibrahim is a plasterer by trade, but when he saw crowds flocking by the tens of thousands to Beirut\u2019s Martyrs\u2019 Square…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":41513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}