Lebanon: resumption of blockages despite confinement, violent incidents

Demonstration against the collapse of Lebanese currency outside the Central Bank of Lebanon in Beirut, April 23, 2020. REUTERS / Mohamed Azakir

Text by: Paul Khalifeh

Violent incidents in Lebanon pitted law enforcement against demonstrators on Thursday protesting the vertiginous fall of the Lebanese pound against the dollar and soaring prices of consumer products, at a time when the country is going through a crisis unprecedented economic and financial.

Publicity

Read more

From our correspondent in Beirut,

After several weeks of respite due to the health crisis caused by the coronavirus and the breathlessness of the protest movement, the demonstrators again took over the streets of Lebanon on Thursday.

Violent clashes pitted the Lebanese army against dozens of protesters who were trying to block a road in the eastern plain of the Bekaa.

Also in the same region, other demonstrators attacked a police roadblock and set fire to a gatehouse. Overwhelmed, the gendarmes had to abandon their position.

Angry protesters have also closed the highway that runs along the Lebanese coast from north to south at several points. Roads were also cut inside Beirut with burning tires.

The rise in anger was caused by the vertiginous fall of the Lebanese pound, which has lost in the last 48 hours 25% of its value against the US dollar.

► Read also: Lebanon announces the first default in its history

The depreciation of the national currency is reflected in the prices of consumer products, which more than doubled in a few weeks. Purchasing power is eroding and living conditions are deteriorating at high speed, as Lebanon is going through the worst economic and financial crisis in its history.

► Read also: Lebanon: in the midst of a crisis, the Parliament meets and the protest movement manifests

Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox

Subscribe

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • Lebanon
  • Society
  • Hassan Diab
  • Containment
  • Coronavirus

On the same subject

Lebanon: in the middle of a crisis, the Parliament meets and the protest movement manifests

Coronavirus: in Lebanon, manifestation of hunger in full confinement