After Lebanese revolt's fury, waning protests face long road

Jad Chaaban, an economist and activist, says the protest movement was thwarted by the political elite. Some experts see the protesters’ chief demand as unrealistic — typified in the chant, “All of them means all of them,” meaning all politicians in the establishment must step down. That addressed the wrong issue and was “a dilution of the problem,” said Nadim Shehadi, from the London-based think tank Chatham House.“The problem in Lebanon is not the system of governance, it has its flaws but it is not the cause of the problem, Hezbollah is,” said Shehadi, who is also executive director of the New York headquarters and academic center at the Lebanese American University.At various protests, supporters of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its Shiite ally Amal attacked demonstrators. With time, they hope more people will break with their traditional leadership.“It’s a long road,” says activist Lina Boubess, a 60-year-old mother who has not missed one protest since October.