From left: Judges Walid Akoum, Janet Nosworthy, David Re, Micheline Braidy and Nicola Lettier preside over the first hearing in the in absentia trial of four people accused of murdering former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague on Jan.16, 2014
| TIME.com http://world.time.com/2014/01/16/lebanon-hariri-sectarian-arab-wars/#ixzz2qcBnYsSW
The billboards are popping up all over Beirut: The 3M company is offering to “protect your loved ones” with its line of polyvinyl films designed to keep glass windows from shattering into deadly shrapnel in the event of a bomb blast. And business is booming. A series of suicide bomb attacks over the past five months have turned this carefree capital by the sea into a safety conscious security zone, says Nada Nehme Khoury, 3M Lebanon’s managing director.
Not since the 2006 war with Israel have Beirut residents been so cautious. A widely disseminated U.S. State Department travel alert warning American citizens to avoid “western style” venues has only added to the sense of unease. Even the old downtown souks, that most Arab of outdoor shopping experiences, features brands like Adidas, Zara, H&M and a brand new multiplex cinema. In a city with a reputation for partying during war time—the 2006 World Press Photo of the year summed up local attitudes with a group of young Lebanese blasting past crumpled buildings in a red convertible—the violence is finally taking its toll. The wealthy speak of relocating to Europe or the U.S. A film festival was canceled. Middle class families are staying closer to home, and making them safer. “Usually it’s banks and embassies that install blast film,” says Khoury. “Now it’s families worried about their children.” To Khoury, it’s starting to feel a lot more like 1982, when she established her company three years into Lebanon’s 15-year civil war.
