BEIRUT: Hundreds of students and activists, many from the American University of Beirut, marched Sunday from the university campus to the Interior Ministry to demand that Lebanon support civil marriages.

Standing in front the Interior Ministry near the Sanayeh public park, protesters shouted slogans calling for secularism and civil rights. Protesters held banners targeting Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, who they accused of blocking official recognition of civil marriage contracts performed in Lebanon.

The protest, which attracted activists from all ages and groups, was called for by several civil society organizations and two clubs at AUB, the Secular Club and the leftist Red Oak Club.

Ali Sleem, one of the protest organizers, said that the protest was about human rights. “Civil marriage is considered one of the collective rights, and we’re very much interested in it.”

While the majority of Lebanese citizens are married under religious auspices, some opt for civil, secular services. While the country officially acknowledges civil marriages between Lebanese citizens performed abroad, the government has said there is currently no legal mechanism to recognize unions performed on Lebanese soil.

The Interior Ministry had issued a statement last month saying that the 1936 law that legalizes civil marriage also stipulates the need for an official process regulating the practice. This process must be decreed by the Cabinet before the law can be implemented, the statement said.

But last year, the High Committee for Consultations in the Justice Ministry approved the civil marriage of Nidal Darwish and Kholoud Succariyeh, which took place after the couple removed their sects from their official documents.

Since then, more than 50 couples have been wed in civil ceremonies held in Lebanon. Most of the wedding contracts, however, still lack formal recognition by the government.

Some civilly wed couples have had children, Sleem said, but the government has refused to provide official paperwork for the families.

Aside from legal rights, many see the civil marriage issue as part of a larger national dialogue about the role of religion in Lebanese society.

“Civil marriage, in our opinion, is one step further toward a secular state, which is definitely something we want,” said Aya Adra, an AUB student and member of the leftist Red Oak Club.

“It’s also about freedom of choice and freedom of belief,” she said.

Pictures of the protest were reposted across social media Sunday afternoon, with many activists, media personalities and even public figures praising the demonstration.

Massoud Maalouf, the former Lebanese ambassador to Poland, Chile and Canada, was among those who tweeted his support for the civil marriage agitators.

“I’m completely for it,” he told The Daily Star. Civil marriage, Maalouf said, would help Lebanon move toward “eradicating confessionalism from our lives.”

Maalouf said that he, like many who support civil marriage, is not against religion but rather hopes that a secular framework can be established in Lebanon. “We have to eradicate confessionalism from our system. We cannot do it overnight. We have to do it step by step. The first step in that is civil marriage,” Maalouf explained.

But Sleem said that not all who advocate for civil marriage are strict secularists. Many interfaith couples who could be forced to convert in a religious ceremony opt for civil marriages.

Sleem said that student clubs and rights groups would continue to push for the recognition of civil marriages in Lebanon. A coalition of groups continues to hold seminars and information sessions about civil marriage to raise awareness about the cause, he said.

Further protests, he added, are being scheduled. “This is not our last march,” he said.