A video clip showing stampede and verbal altercations between Lebanese security personnel and Iraqi students in the Ministry of Education building in Beirut sparked a wave of anger on social media in both Lebanon and Iraq, and official reactions in the two countries.
The video shows a Lebanese security man yelling at a number of Iraqi students, who have come to review their papers at the ministry, waving a metal rod and threatening to beat them as he tries to organize the crowded queue.
The video clip provoked many Iraqis, who deplored the way they dealt with their countrymen, as well as Lebanese who described what happened as unacceptable.
A video of a quarrel between Iraqi students and the security of the Lebanese Ministry of Education raises controversy in the two countries.. Here is the story pic.twitter.com/4IZk7xosHO
- Al Sharq Newspaper – Qatar (@alsharq_portal) March 11, 2023
What is the story of the video clip? According to the site "BBC"Video clips shared by social media pioneers since Thursday showed a group of Iraqi students trying to equalize their certificates with the Ministry of Education in Beirut, and complaining about the delay in certifying their transactions and university certificates.
However, the matter quickly turned into a stampede between the Ministry’s security personnel and dozens of Iraqi students, and some of the tweeters described it as a "Prepare" Iraqi students and treat them in a way "insulting".
Iraqi official follow-up After the incident, the Iraqi News Agency reported that the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Naim al-Aboudi, directed the formation of a ministerial committee to go to Lebanon in order to follow up the affairs of Iraqi students.
Opening an investigation in Lebanon The Lebanese embassy in Baghdad also announced the opening of an investigation into the stampede incident, and said in a statement that "Stampede and harassment of male and female students in front of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education building in Beirut, including dear Iraqi students, is unacceptable and has become the subject of follow-up and investigation at the highest levels by the concerned ministers and directors.".
The embassy in Banha added that "What they were subjected to is unacceptable, and it will be dealt with, avoiding its recurrence, and putting them in the form of efforts to follow up on the completion of their transactions and the equivalence of their certificates within the best possible conditions.".
Clarification of the Lebanese Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Lebanon had issued a statement in which it clarified that "When the ministry opened its doors to receive auditors on Wednesday, a huge number of Iraqi students entered at once, crowding the entrance to the Department of Equations.".
The statement continues: "Suddenly one of the Iraqi youths who were reviewing fell to the ground and fainted, and the stampede continued. The security forces tried to persuade the students to back down a bit to lift the young man off the ground, but they did not back down. This prompted the security forces member to raise his voice, carrying a piece of the fence, to persuade them to back down. It turned out that the young man suffered from asthma and could not bear the lack of oxygen, and he was treated by the Red Cross".
