Politics
When Does the Weekend Start? In Beirut, It’s a Serious Question
It doesn’t take much to threaten the delicate sectarian balance in a place where the scars of war loom large.
A man walks in front of a mosque in Beirut.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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There’s an argument in Beirut about when to start the weekend.
What might seem a relatively trivial matter for a country whose economy has been hammered by the war next door in Syria is anything but, given Lebanon’s delicate power balance. The row over when to finish work for the week is political and religious. It’s about sectarianism, not hedonism.