The Women's Organizations Protest

The Executive Committee of the Women's Organizations in Lebanon held a meeting under the chairmanship of Mrs. Laure, wife of the notable Mr. Georges Tabet. It deliberated on the state to which public security in the country has come, in the light of what happened during the holiday season, and then wired to the head of the government, in his capacity as Minister of the Interior, the telegram whose text follows, sending a copy of it to the bureau of the Presidency:

To His Excellency the President of the Council of Ministers, the honorable Minister of the Interior:

The Executive Committee of all the women's organizations in Lebanon is appalled at the state of disorder that has prevailed in the country, and therefore comes before the men in power in anger and condemnation, holding them alone responsible for what has happened, and for the lives destroyed through the encouragement given the mob in the use of firearms. The Lebanese woman regards this conduct as shameful: it has set us back generations and placed us in the ranks of the barbarous nations. And woman is appalled at the exploitation of religion in a rivalry to display influence — religion being innocent of this disgraceful business. The Lebanese woman therefore demands most emphatically the enforcement of the law forbidding the use of weapons of every kind, on any occasion whatever and by anyone whomsoever. She holds this to be her right as a citizen, and out of concern for the safety of lives that have been held cheap in the pursuit of personal ends.

The Executive Committee of all the Lebanese organizations:

Laure Georges Tabet, Ibtihaj Kaddoura, May Fayyad, Najla Saab, Jamal Karam Harfush, Laure Nasr, Ellen Rihan, Emily Fares Ibrahim.