To sectarianism, we say revolution!

Demonstrators gather at the Dawra Roundabout in Northern Beirut.

Today, thousands of Lebanese took to the streets to protest a system of government that is uniquely Lebanese: sectarianism.

"No to confessionalism! The people are fed up!! We are not sheep. A neutral and secular people is the unique solution."

As per almost 70 years of unwritten political agreement -- and finally codified in the 1989 Ta'if Agreement that ended the 15-year Lebanese Civil War -- the President of Lebanon must be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of the Parliament a Shi'a Muslim. The Parliament must be split equally between Christians and Muslims.

"We are Lebanese."

The system is based on the 1932 Lebanese census, which counted six Christians for every five Muslims. (Before the Ta'if Agreement, the Parliament was divided with six Christians for every five Muslims.) Current estimates put the Lebanese at 27% Sunni, 27% Shi'a, 21% Maronite Christian, 5% Druze, and 20% other Christian sects (including Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic). However, no official census has been carried out since 1932, largely out of fear that officially recognising significant changes in population -- especially increases amongst the Shi'a -- would force a power re-distribution that would both unseat the Christians and reignite sectarian strife.

Considering that the Lebanese spent 15 years fighting a bloody civil war along ethnic and sectarian lines, these fears are not unfounded.

The Imam looked so amused every time I saw him.

The sign behind him reads: "The people want the fall of the sectarian system."

Lebanon has been fairly calm in the face of the revolutionary fever that is sweeping the rest of the Arab world. Unlike almost all of its neighbours, Lebanon possesses something of a democratic government -- though incompetent to the verge of failure -- and lacks a brutal strongman to overthrow. Current unrest tends to take the form of protests and counter-protests between the two rival political coalitions, March 8 and March 14 (cleverly named after the dates in 2005 on which each coalition staged massive demonstrations). A better explanation of their formation, the assassination of Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Syrian element, and the International Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will have to wait for another post.

"Sectarianism is the graveyard of religions," and

"For the nation, secular democracy."

Nick, Haley, Arthur, and I joined thousands of others at the start of the protest in Dawra, a neighbourhood in north Beirut. We marched through several distinct neighbourhoods before ending up in front of the Electricite Liban headquarters, several kilometers away.

Military jeeps oversee the procession.

Demonstrators march past soldiers.

The police and army watched the demonstrations quietly from the sidelines, never interfering with the protesters in any way. Organizers with bullhorns and speakers shouted slogans ("The people want the regime to fall!", "To sectarianism, revolution! To corruption, revolution! To assassination, revolution!"), and demonstrators self-organized human chains to protect march leaders. The chants mirror the ones used across the Arab region, especially in Tunisia and Egypt, that call for regime change and revolution.

Human chains protect the beginning of the protest and chant leaders.

Demonstrators called to people watching from the balcony to come join the protests.

There were people from all walks of life.

Reuters puts the number of protesters at around 8,000 people (we were conservatively guessing 5,000 as we walked along the edges).

Reporters use fire trucks as convenient platforms to capture the crowds.

We left the protest when it arrived at Electricite Liban, but thousands remained, calling for a government that represents the voice of its people rather than their religious makeup.

The coming weeks will see the six year anniversary of the original March 8 and March 14 protests that formed the rival coalitions, coalitions whose makeup rests on religious division. Mass demonstrations have already been planned for March 14. We will see if the call for secular unity can possibly drown out old habits.