Lebanon: After Containment, Anti-Power Protesters Return to the Street

Lebanese back on the street. Several hundred demonstrators again rallied central Beirut on Saturday June 6 to protest the government's powerlessness in the face of the economic collapse. Clashes have broken out with supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah movement.

The rally is the first since authorities began to ease the containment measures imposed in mid-March to stem the spread of Covid-19.

This mobilization, on the Place des Martyrs, was accompanied by scuffles between demonstrators and police, who used tear gas. A total of 48 people were injured, including 37 treated on the spot, a spokesman for the Lebanese Red Cross told AFP.

Among the demonstrators, coming from diverse backgrounds, some called for the disarmament of Hezbollah, which is not one of the main demands of the uprising, launched in October to denounce the entire political class accused of corruption and incompetence.

The second breath of the thawra? #Liban #beyrouth pic.twitter.com/ENGeuhbdTw

"No to Hezbollah, no to its weapons"

While stone jets were exchanged between groups of demonstrators and supporters of the powerful Shiite movement from a neighboring neighborhood, the army intervened to prevent the escalation, reported an AFP photographer.

"Shiite, Shiite," chanted supporters of Hezbollah, a political heavyweight, some waving the movement's yellow flag.

The issue of Hezbollah's weapons is one of the main areas of contention that divides the political class. The Shiite group is the only faction not to have abandoned its military arsenal at the end of the civil war (1975-1990).

"No to Hezbollah, no to its weapons," could be read on the sign brandished by Sana, a 57-year-old demonstrator from Nabatiye (south). "The weapons must only be in the hands of the army," she told AFP.

"For a government that eliminates corruption, not that protects it"

Heterogeneous groups participated in anti-power demonstrations, advancing a plethora of economic and social grievances and different demands, demanding for some early legislative elections.

"For a government which eliminates corruption, not which protects it," could be read on a sign, the overwhelming majority of demonstrators wearing a mask to protect their face from the coronavirus.

Near the Place des Martyrs, at the entrance to a street leading to the Parliament, demonstrators who cracked the security forces and ransacked shop windows were dispersed by tear gas.

"We are demonstrating for our rights, medical care, education, work, the most basic rights a human being needs to stay alive," Christina, a 21-year-old student, told AFP.

Clashes and stone throws pitted residents of the Christian quarter of Ain al-Remmaneh against those in the Shiite suburb of Chiyah, but the police have restored calm, according to the state news agency ANI.

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Economic collapse

The uprising, unleashed on October 17, 2019, saw hundreds of thousands of Lebanese beat the floor to shout their tears as the country continues its economic collapse, which is accompanied by a sharp depreciation of the Lebanese pound and an explosion in inflation.

Unemployment affects more than 35% of the working population, while more than 45% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to estimates by the Ministry of Finance.

Despite the breathlessness of the mobilization in recent months, processions continued to parade by car in the capital, while clashes in Tripoli (north) pitted angry demonstrators against the police, killing one of the protesters at the end of April.

Under pressure from the street, a new government was formed at the start of the year, without triggering any changes.

To obtain financial aid, the authorities adopted an economic recovery plan at the end of April, following negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and committing to carry out the reforms expected by the international community for years but never materialized.

With AFP

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