With about 4,000 people, El-Buss Refugee Camp is one of the smallest in Lebanon, but it is notorious for its gun violence. There was a gun battle the night before I arrived; broken glass still littered the streets, and the bullet-holes in the nearby walls, cars and rubbish bins were fresh.Although originally created for Armenian refugees, it is now inhabited by Palestinians. Lebanese consider these camps 'states within a state', where they rarely enter and have limited ability to exercise influence.
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The camps aren't much like what you see on TV - rather than rows of anonymous tents, you have beautiful houses and even small gardens. But crushing so many people into such a small space with restricted movement, high unemployment, ambiguous rule of law and easy access to weapons leads to high levels of violence.We saw a photograph of a boy displayed in the camp, under which was written 'Never Forget'. We asked about it:"That's a funny story, actually," said Fadi, a local police-man. "Two boys were getting drunk together, but they only had one beer left between them. They fought over it until one pushed the other off the fourth floor."They know their lulz at El-Buss.
