In Lebanon, with the shortage of gasoline, the population faces a multifaceted crisis that is worsening
Audio 01:13
The few service stations still open were stormed by motorists, as in Beirut, here, August 13, 2021. AFP - ANWAR AMRO
Text by: RFI Follow
10 mins
The formalization of the lifting of fuel subsidies continues to fuel anger.
Protesters block roads at intervals.
The crisis is having an increasingly important impact on the populations.
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With our correspondent in Beirut,
Laure Stéphan
The announcement of the
lifting of fuel subsidies
will be accompanied by a surge in prices in Lebanon, where hyperinflation and shortages are already a daily occurrence.
The army announced this Saturday, August 14 in the morning the launch of searches in closed gas stations.
The soldiers say they will distribute the seized stocks to the population.
So the wait is doubled to obtain basic products.
Since Thursday, few gas stations are open, and the lines are endless.
In one of them, near Beirut, Ziad, a young unemployed man, worries: “
I've been waiting for four hours.
There is a traffic jam here.
Elsewhere, gas stations are closed.
My tank is empty
!
"
Ziad does not want to talk about the lifting of subsidies, at the center of a political controversy, "
we do not understand anything
," he said.
Gasoline will soon be acquired at the price of the dollar on the black market, ie at a much higher cost.
"
Ibrahim, 50, also lines up to fill his car.
“
So far our turn has not come,”
he complains
.
We wait.
And that's how you lose a day.
We wonder where to look for money, how to bring back food?
These days, the lines for gasoline are worse than before.
People are afraid that the price of gasoline will explode, or that there will be no gasoline left at all.
Distributors have gasoline, but they don't want to deliver it.
Of course I'm scared too.
We all live in fear.
Ibrahim has only one certainty: the coming weeks will be even more difficult.
A society "
in turmoil
"
He is not the only one.
Following this decision by the Bank of Lebanon, fuel oil shortages are visible throughout the country, which has an impact on several sectors of the economy.
Many restaurants, bakeries and shopping centers have gone out of business.
A situation that the population will not stand for long, according to Nadim Houry, executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative research center.
Today, the opposition forces for change are still there, but they are struggling to unite
Nadim Houry, Executive Director of the Arab Reform Initiative Research Center
The anger in any case is there.
Since October 2019, we feel that there is a boiling in Lebanese society.
Will it be structured?
Today, the opposition forces for change are still there, but they are struggling to unite, to organize themselves sufficiently, but yes, it is possible to have spontaneous, potentially violent protest movements, because honestly, there is a form of violence against the population today.
According to him, however, solutions exist.
A transitional government with certain exceptional powers must be given a chance for a period of six months to a year to stop this hellish fall, prepare for the elections which are supposed to take place in May 2022, and with assistance from the international community.
But in the absence of an organization, we can see very well that it is every man for himself, and it is often the poorest who are paying and in this case, it is really the Lebanese population.
A global crisis
It is a financial, political, economic crisis.
Nadim Houry, Executive Director of the Arab Reform Initiative Research Center
The crisis
is global, according to Nadim Houry, who has just returned from Lebanon.
It is a financial, political, economic crisis. People no longer have access to their bank accounts. But it is also essentially a crisis of governance. There is no one in charge, the ministers make no decisions, they are divided, and the population finds itself alone in having to deal with the problems. The daily energy of people is how to make sure that their sick loved ones have access to their medicines, how to make sure that there is enough electricity to keep the food in the fridge usable, how to make sure that the elderly and children are not too hot at night, because that we are in the middle of August, because there is no electricity, that's just it! Beirut's largest public hospital has only two out of seven generators that work. You imagine that.There are people who are on oxygen; we remain in a Covid crisis, and all of this is due to the incompetence and criminality of the political class with absent subscribers.
► See also: Lebanon: the Central Bank lifts fuel subsidies, riots in Tripoli
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