In an event that received alarmingly minimal coverage, a group of individuals carrying weapons raided a party taking place in resto-bar Cloud59 in the city of Tyre, attacking people and trashing the place in the process.
The raid took place on the same day as a political freedom demonstration earlier in the afternoon, which was also attacked by a group of individuals who framed the demonstration as one promoting homosexuality.
Context
The attack came after a video of a party taken in Cloud59 was edited to include LGBTQIA+ pride flags and circulated on social media platforms.
The event on Saturday night was a celebration of the resto-bar’s twentieth anniversary, and was not, as claimed by those circulating the video, a pride-promoting event.
The public freedoms demonstration earlier that day was also not centered around promoting homosexuality, but rather a call for resisting the increasingly police state of affairs in the country in light of crackdowns on freedom of speech, marginalized groups and those who challenge the sociopolitical status and/or its main representatives.
Cloud59’s Response
In an explanatory video, one of the attendees, Hind, explains that children, parents and many others were celebrating the twentieth anniversary at the resto-bar. At 2 AM, armed masked individuals barring some firearms arrived at the place calling for the termination of the event.
Hind explains that the lack of law enforcement, state institutions and proper security measures have allowed the spread of lawlessness, such as the attacks waged on Cloud59 by armed individuals and gangs.
Hind also explains that those behind the fabrication took the initial video, cropped it, edited pride flags on the video before proceeding to circulate it. She explains that those who raided the resto-bar were already planning to attack, adding that the increasingly violent societal direction has naturally led us to this incident.
In a statement published by Cloud59’s social media pages, owner and operations manager Dalya Farran clarifies that the event was not an “indecent party”, and that a gang of intoxicated men attempted to enter the place but were rebuked by Cloud59’s management.
Later on, they returned with more people and armed with weapons and machine guns, firing shots in the air. As of now, the resto-bar informs that they are taking legal action against those that attacked the resto-bar.