OCTOBER 19

I’ve always cursed my country. It’s chaotic, it’s disorganized. It’s corrupt. I want to live in Paris, New York, Berlin, even Dubai, anywhere but here. But on October 17th, everything changed and it happened while I was taking pictures. I was overwhelmed, swept away by a thousand faces in front of me in tears. People were Angry. Raging. Sad. Liberated. A roller coaster. I was swept away by a torrent of emotions. For the first time since the end of the civil war, Lebanese from all 19 religious sects flood the streets and overcame their fear of their leaders asking for the end of the confessional system. After years of corruption, catastrophic governance, clientelism, injustice, people finally rebelled. Their frustration was finally out. And so was mine. And for the first time in years, there was hope for change. I came to peace with my own identity. I felt proud to be Lebanese.

I started documenting the revolution from day 1 and for the next 100 days I was on the streets, wanting to document events as much as possible. With a renewed sense of hope, there were demands from members across society: Women demonstrating for their rights, students angry at the prospect of having to emigrate to build a future, people blocking roads, protests against the banking system that has privileged the rich. And for the first time, independence day was celebrated with people from all confessions. It was a magical day.

But as time went by and as the demands of the protesters were not met, the repression got more and more violent. The police started to use more coercive methods such as tear gas, water cannon, beating protesters and multiple arrests. The project I am submitting covers a wide range of events that happened during the last 100 days. I’ve compiled a series of photos that depict the variety of events that occurred during that period.