Piece of Cake for a Riot?

Went out to Beirut today with mum - went shopping and out for lunch was really very nice and at times it was reminiscent of Melbourne, that is except for all the Lebanese people everywhere! ha

So we went down to this cake shop to pick up a cake we'd set aside earlier in the day (being that I love cake and all) and we're waiting for a taxi outside the cake shop in Achrafieh in Beirut and seems I didn't notice that a crowd of men was gathering. By the time I noticed, all hell had broken loose. I'm not sure exactly what the story was and I've heard a few that don't make much sense, but all I could see was about 30 men crowded around an expensive silver mercedes with a female driver and not letting her pass. That didn't go so well, and she tried to drive out through them, at which point they started beating her car and running after her. Meanwhile a little to the left a fight breaks out amongst a group of some of the men and there are police sirens, but not police cars, there are soldiers standing around but they are heavily out numbered by the men causing trouble, therefore they are doing nothing to help the situation but staring at the sky thinking about god knows what. Who knows what happened after that and whether it got worse or better. Thankfully for Mum and I our taxi came and we got out of the mess as quickly as possible.

It was an interesting situation to be in. Really rather scary because you have no idea what is going on, and also because there were so many people involved, and unlike in Australia it had nothing to do with late night drinking. It was at 6pm in the evening in a crowded area right near a shopping mall that was filled with families and children. Just goes to show how quickly things can turn and the differences in culture...to see who would band together with who. The woman in the car got out at one point which was a stupid thing to do, considering she was surrounded by men who were attacking her anyway - but she managed to get back in and try and drive off...(which could have been comical from an outsiders point of view, because the traffic in Lebanon is so bad, that you can only really "drive off" for 5 meters...) had she not gotten through that traffic, this may have been a different story entirely.

I'm just glad my cake got out okay.