Lebanese youth start Burn ISIS flag campaign, run into rough weather

Disgusted with the Islamic State’s use of violence in the Middle East and particularly over the recent beheading of two American journalists and a Lebanese soldier, three youngsters from Lebanon uploaded pictures of them burning the ISIS flag in Sassine Square in Beirut, according a report in IB Times.

In Lebanon, the #BurnIsisFlagChallenge is the latest variation of the Ice Bucket Challenge: http://t.co/Tko5zJ8q4r pic.twitter.com/yAfXUadMSK

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) September 7, 2014

[caption id=“attachment_1702501” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters image[/caption] Inspired by these three activists, another youngster uploaded a video of him burn an ISIS flag. The youngster adopted an approach similar to ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and nominated the whole world to burn flags and printouts of flags of the extremist organisation. Soon the video went viral and has been viewed by more than a lakh viewers. Watch the video here:

The hashtags #BurnISISFlagChallenge, #BurnISIS were created and soon people have been nominating each other to burn the flag. The Lebanese activists have attempted to beat ISIS at their own game — using social media to spread their message. ISIS has used the Internet to upload the videos of the beheadings and have relied on underground websites to spread their message. One of the main factors that fueled the creation of the Burn ISIS challenge was that the Lebanese activists were disturbed by the manner in which Islam was being portrayed to the rest of the world due to the actions of extremists like ISIS, according to a report in The Mirror. However, the Burn ISIS Flag Challenge is facing some rough weather after Lebanese justice minister Ashraf Rifi called for the “sternest punishment” against those who burnt the flag in Sassine Sqaure as they had allegedly insulted Islam. The ISIS flag has the Muslim declaration of faith, “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his Prophet,” written on it and Rifi felt that the flag  “has nothing to do with ISIS and its terrorist approach,” and that burning it therefore constituted “an insult to the religious slogans of the Abrahamic faiths, and could stir up sectarian conflicts,” said Lebanese newspaper Asharq Alawsat. However, Rifi has been criticised by many Lebanese politicians, who have offered to support the three youngsters if needed.