Amid War, Displaced Families Fight for Housing Rights

Lebanese Internal Security Forces surround the Hamra Star building's entrance and prevent displaced residents from entering. Beirut, Lebanon. October 21, 2024. (Fatima Joumaa/The Public Source)

Lebanese security forces attempted to forcibly evict residents of the derelict Hamra Star Hotel on Monday, injuring several individuals and their supporters, before popular pressure forced authorities to grant the residents a 48-hour reprieve. With the deadline now passed, many residents still have nowhere to go. At the time of writing, around 100 residents remain in the building, unsure when police will return.

At dawn on September 28, following the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, people fled to the streets as Dahiyeh came under relentless bombardment. More than 250 individuals, comprising dozens of families, sought refuge in the Hamra Star Hotel with help from neighborhood residents.

For many of the families, this was not their first displacement. Some were initially forced to flee their southern border villages such as Majdal Zoun, Qabrikha, Shaqra, Kfar Kila, Houla, and Bint Jbeil to relatively safer areas in the South. When those areas also became too dangerous, they moved to Beirut’s southern suburbs. Other families had been displaced from Baalbeck to Dahieh, and then again to Hamra.

“We were sleeping in the car parked at Martyrs’ Square in downtown before we packed up and came here,” Hajjeh Amal from Qabrikha told The Public Source. Her daughter had called to tell her that she had secured a room for them in a recently opened building in Hamra.

The Hamra Star building had previously been sealed with red wax due to incidents involving prostitution and a murder, according to the Lebanese investigative journalist, Radwan Mortada. Residents said some of the owners initially assured them they could stay in the building until the war ended, but later had a change of heart. The residents had spent three weeks cleaning and fixing up the building.

Displaced residents and their supporters block Hamra Street in protest of the decision to evict them from Hamra Star. Beirut, Lebanon. October 21, 2024. (Fatima Joumaa/The Public Source)

The owners were able to quickly secure a court order to evacuate the building; they used political influence in the judiciary and Interior Ministry to get a speedy order, according to Mortada.

“We told [the owners] we are willing to sign an official document promising to leave once the crisis is over, in case there were concerns we’d claim ownership,” a displaced man from Houla, who preferred to remain anonymous, told The Public Source. “They were understanding and sympathetic, but we don’t know what happened afterwards.”

The displaced families say they worked tirelessly to rehabilitate the previously unlivable space, spending days clearing out accumulated filth, dust, and trash. One of the displaced men volunteered to connect water to the rooms. “The poor guy spent hours setting up the plumbing, then connected the electricity while we spent our first nights using candles,” recalled Hajjeh Amal. “The sewage was clogged too; he worked with the other men to fix it so people could use the bathroom.”

On Saturday, October 19, security forces arrived and asked the families to leave quietly, claiming the state had secured a building between Sabra and al-Madina al-Riyadiya. Some of the Hamra Star residents went there to inspect the site and found that the three-storey building, located in an area that has become unsafe because of Israeli airstrikes, could only accommodate 150 people. Four to five families would have to share a hall, with only tarps separating them. The building’s glass facade made it unsuitable to protect the women’s privacy, leaving them fully exposed to the outside world.

A woman from Houla, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Public Source that security forces threatened the residents: “We’re trying to sympathize with you as much as we can, but you only have 48 hours to evacuate, or you will be met with a larger force on Monday, and you won’t be able to do anything.”

Two women, with the few belongings they managed to carry from their homes, sit outside the Hamra Star building after being threatened with eviction. Beirut, Lebanon. October 21, 2024. (Fatima Joumaa/The Public Source)

In line with their warning, on Monday, October 21, the Internal Security Forces (ISF), reinforced by riot control units and the Lebanese army, arrived at the Hamra Star Hotel with buses to relocate the families. The ISF blocked the road leading to the main Hamra Street, angering the residents, who felt they were being treated unjustly. In response, the residents blocked the other side of the street.

During the confrontation, riot police struck people indiscriminately, including women, the elderly, and a 12-year-old child. They forcibly evicted the families from their rooms, using pepper spray, leaving people in pain and distress. At least two women were badly injured and required stitches, while one man, according to his wife, suffered a seizure and needed immediate hospitalization.

“My husband was defending his honor and dignity; he was defending his people and country,” the man’s wife told The Public Source. “Many people have lost their homes and have nowhere to go. Where are we supposed to stay? We’re the ones who made this place livable; we fixed it up.”

Hours later, the men managed to re-enter the building by prying open one of the shops, and returned one by one until every room was filled again. By evening, the ISF extended the evacuation deadline by another 48 hours, following a decision by the Public Prosecutor.

“We all stood together. We refuse to leave this building unless it’s to return to our homes and villages,” said the woman from Houla as she peeled potatoes for lunch. “Where else do they want to take us to degrade us? Who can guarantee that in a week or 10 days they won’t tell us to leave again?”

Security forces prevent men from entering Hamra Star, while a number of women and children remain inside. Beirut, Lebanon. October 21, 2024. (Fatima Joumaa/The Public Source)

Some families returned to their homes in Hay el-Sellom, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, frequently targeted by Israel, choosing to risk their lives rather than face another humiliation. Around 100 individuals stayed in Hamra Star, determined to resist the eviction until better alternatives were provided. On Wednesday at noon, a security officer visited Hamra Star and informed those still there that they could stay until the state had secured another location. The officer took down the names of everyone who decided to stay, according to one activist we spoke to. By evening, however, the remaining families were suddenly told they had to evacuate the building by 8 p.m., with no alternatives secured.

Since the escalation of the Israeli war on Lebanon over a month ago, the government has been unable to adequately address the displacement crisis. Public Works, a research studio that advocates for the right to housing in Lebanon, urged authorities to make use of vacant buildings to provide decent housing for those now in need. In a statement published Monday, and co-signed by several other groups,  it also called on the government to update the national emergency plan.

Hajjeh Amal believes that “it’s not just about evicting displaced families from private properties; they want to put us in camps. They’ll gather us near al-Madina al-Riyadiya and tell the enemy, ‘Here they are, bomb them!’” Her sister-in-law, Hajjeh Zeinab, who is still mourning her martyred brother, intervened, saying: “We can endure anything, every difficult situation — but we refuse to be humiliated.”