Tripoli Is Boiling

Various eyewitnesses told me that tens of thousands of protesters have filled the parking lot of the Tripoli International Fair (an area of around 20,000 square meters) in a show of support for the government. The witnesses described a huge forest of Lebanese flags and loud displays of fireworks and festive gun shots.

Tripoli, which is predominantly Sunni, is Lebanon's second largest city. The Protesters were waving Lebanese flags and pictures of the Prime Minister Sanioura and of parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri. Similar news are coming from Almoon, Minieh, Akkar and Dinnyeh, all Sunni areas in Northern Lebanon.

Hariri has called for calm via Future TV.

Whether or not the intention of the demonstrators on December 1st was to provoke the Sunnis, It seems this is how it is being perceived by the Sunnis themselves.

It is worth noting that the opposition's proposed Prime Minister, Pro-Syria Omar Karami, is from Tripoli.