G · RTM posted a photo:
In and around Beyrouth several statues of former president Rafic Hariri can be found. This one is located in front of the Government Palace or Le Grand Serail.
The palace is not far from Nijmeh Square. In this area is the Parliament building and you can find lots of ministeries. The politics in Lebanon is very complex and there is lots of tension and therefore the entire area is heavily guarded. You can see military vehicles and commando’s everywhere!
So I was walking parallel to the palace walls and wanted to take this photo of the statue. I was taking my time, multiple exposures. I heard some shouting but wanted to finish my shots before I was going to see what was going on. More loud shouting, much more aggressive! I thought: what the.. and was looking over my shoulder. Two commando’s were running towards me with their machine guns. OHHHH SIIIIIIITTTEEE …. I was so scared and just froze. First shouting in Arabic and then: "NO PHOTO, NO PHOTO". Me: "AHHHHH OKAY, OKAY, OKAY!!!!".
So… this was almost my last photo ever! 🙂 Fortunately these commando’s judged the situation better than I did. A couple of days later I ran the 2011 Beirut marathon.
