Protest etiquette: Overthrowing regimes with knives and forks
Protest etiquette: Overthrowing regimes with knives and forks
Blog: A Lebanese TV station has faced Twitter's ire over a segment teaching people how to act or speak during demonstrations.
2 min read
08 Sep, 2015
Middle-class Beirutis despair at the rowdy, uncivilised nature of street protesters [AFP]
A Lebanese television channel has been extensively mocked on Twitter over a segment in a programme teaching people etiquette - how to behave in a polite and customary manner - when it aired a segment last week about how to act or speak during demonstrations.
The Lebanese have been demonstrating en masse against corruption since August 22, triggered by a garbage collection crisis that has seen rubbish piling on the streets of the capital city, Beirut.
Nadine Daher, the "expert" used on the etiquette segment for Murr TV's Lebanon's Alive show, attempted to guide the Lebanese on the difference between a citizen's duties and responsibilities. She then started talking about how a protester should behave during demonstrations - and the words and acts that shouldn't be said or done.
Daher went on to give the viewers lessons on how to be "civilised protesters," and said that protesters should "wear respectable and decent clothes", carry "beautiful banners without defaming people" and maintain hygiene by "not throwing food or drink on the ground".
Twitter users had a field day after the episode and took the opportunity to add their own mock-advice for protesters under the Arabic hashtag: #Demonstrations-Etiquettes.
One Twitter user mocked Daher's advice with this comment: "Use your right hand to hold the knife, your left hand for the fork, and cut the barbed wire without dropping anything on the floor."
Another Twitter user wondered: "What type of shampoo should we use when they start hosing us down?"
Yet another: "Make sure a bottle contains clean water before you throw it on a policeman."
Following the ribbing on social media, the station deleted the video from its YouTube account - only to re-upload it later.
The Lebanese have been demonstrating en masse against corruption since August 22, triggered by a garbage collection crisis that has seen rubbish piling on the streets of the capital city, Beirut.
Nadine Daher, the "expert" used on the etiquette segment for Murr TV's Lebanon's Alive show, attempted to guide the Lebanese on the difference between a citizen's duties and responsibilities. She then started talking about how a protester should behave during demonstrations - and the words and acts that shouldn't be said or done.
Daher went on to give the viewers lessons on how to be "civilised protesters," and said that protesters should "wear respectable and decent clothes", carry "beautiful banners without defaming people" and maintain hygiene by "not throwing food or drink on the ground".
Twitter users had a field day after the episode and took the opportunity to add their own mock-advice for protesters under the Arabic hashtag: #Demonstrations-Etiquettes.
One Twitter user mocked Daher's advice with this comment: "Use your right hand to hold the knife, your left hand for the fork, and cut the barbed wire without dropping anything on the floor."
Another Twitter user wondered: "What type of shampoo should we use when they start hosing us down?"
Yet another: "Make sure a bottle contains clean water before you throw it on a policeman."
Following the ribbing on social media, the station deleted the video from its YouTube account - only to re-upload it later.
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