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News ID: 83818
Publish Date : 13 October 2020 - 22:10

Beirut Explosion Drama Causes Outrage

BEIRUT (Middle East Eye) – The announcement of a new online drama focusing on the 4 August Beirut explosion has been called insensitive by social media users, who have also demanded that the show be cancelled.
Shahid.net, a video on-demand and leading TV catch-up service operating in the MENA region, announced that the original show would be airing on 17 October, which coincides with the first anniversary of the protests in Lebanon.
The show, titled 6:07 Beirut, is described on the Shahid website as a series of 15 short films looking at the tragic Beirut explosion, highlighting the stories of those who were killed as well as survivors.
A trailer released by the website shows clips of people going about their daily lives, then cuts to scenes of chaos and devastation, as well as bloodied bodies on the ground.
The caption asks viewers: "On 4 August, where were you? Regardless of who you are, where you were, from the injured to the survivors … in the end we were all sacrificed.”
In one scene, a woman is shown saying "We are not living. We are waiting for death”.
The trailer for the show was met with fierce condemnation on Twitter and Facebook.
One Facebook user accused the producers of the show of capitalizing on the grief of those impacted by the blast.
"This is unacceptable. Less than three months later you’re launching a series? What happened to respecting people’s grief, trauma and sadness. The people of Beirut are still trying to rebuild … you’re trying to make money out of the misery of Beirut … shame on you,” the user commented under the announcement.
The Facebook post has since been taken down by Shahid following the backlash and tweets promoting the show have also been deleted.
The official Shahid twitter account responded to criticism online by saying that the show was made to portray the stories of those who were affected by the blast to the rest of the world.
"We understand you and we hear you clearly. We want to reassure you that this project was made to shed light on the tragic event that happened to our beloved city Beirut and to Lebanon,” the tweet read.
However, many people online were dissatisfied with the response, calling for it to be cancelled, claiming it was insensitive and taking advantage of people’s pain.  
The 4 August port blast, which killed more than 190 people, wounded over 6,500 and left around 300,000 people displaced, was caused by a huge stockpile of ammonium nitrate stored at a warehouse for over six years.