In northern Lebanon, a Syrian refugee camp set on fire after an altercation
Syrian refugees recover their belongings after their camp in Bhanine, in northern Lebanon, burns down, following an altercation with a local family.
AFP - IBRAHIM CHALHOUB
Text by: RFI Follow
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Residents from a clan in northern Lebanon set fire to a camp for Syrian refugees on Saturday evening, December 28, after an altercation between this family and "Syrian workers", the national news agency reported ( ANI).
Several people were injured in this camp which hosts around 75 families.
Lebanon is regularly accused of discriminating against Syrian refugees.
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The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed a major fire in
a camp
in the al-Minyeh region.
He also mentioned the wounded transferred to a nearby hospital, without however being able to provide their exact number.
"
The fire has spread to all the shelters,
" erected with plastic sheeting and wood, UNHCR spokesperson Khaled Kabbara told AFP, adding that the camp hosts around 75 families.
The drama began with an "
altercation
" between a member of a powerful clan in northern Lebanon, Al-Mir, and "
Syrian workers
", ANI reported.
Other young people from this clan intervened and "
set fire to some of the refugees
'
tents
", she added.
Civil defense intervened to try to contain the blaze, while the army and police were deployed to restore calm, the agency said.
Blur around the origin of the altercation
A security source told AFP that gunshots had been heard.
The origin of the altercation is not clear at this time.
This source first said that the altercation in the locality of Bhanin began as Syrian workers demanded wages that their employers refused to pay.
But according to the first elements of the investigation, the dispute was caused by the harassment suffered by a Syrian woman.
Tensions and discrimination vis-à-vis Syrians
Severely affected by an economic crisis, Lebanon declares to welcome on its soil 1.5 million Syrians, including nearly a million registered with the UN as refugees who fled the conflict in their country.
The
NGOs continue to denounce the discrimination and hate speech
experienced by refugees in Lebanon, where the vast majority of parties, but also part of the public opinion,
demanding their return to Syria
.
At the end of November, some 270 Syrian refugee families had been driven from a northern Lebanese locality, Bcharré, after an altercation involving a Syrian worker accused of having killed a resident.
(With AFP)
►
To read also: Lebanon: the despair of the Syrian refugees who are bogged down in misery
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