The tension is growing in Tripoli, Lebanon's second city and "capital" of the North, where Wednesday, for the third consecutive day, violent night clashes pitted the police against demonstrators overwhelmed by the containment measures and their difficult living conditions, aggravated by sanitary restrictions.
A 29-year-old man died Thursday, January 28, from his gunshot wounds, and more than 220 people were injured in the clashes, during which demonstrators attacked the seraglio of the coastal city, the seat of the governorate North.
Protesters set fire to the entrance of a police building, before being dispersed by the police and the Lebanese army.
For their part, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) reported nine wounded in their ranks, including one in serious condition, while the protests resumed this Thursday, at the beginning of the afternoon.
A city "on the verge of implosion"
Called the "bride of the revolution", due to the strong mobilization of its population during the popular protest against the political class that began in October 2019, the predominantly Sunni port city is one of the poorest cities in the country of the Cedars .
Like the rest of Lebanese territory, Tripoli has been subject, since January 14, and until February 8, to very strict confinement including a 24-hour curfew, demanded by caregivers who are facing a exponential increase in Covid-19 cases, while the hospital system is already saturated.
Even if the average rate of compliance with containment is 90% across the country according to the ISF, the health measures are contested and accused by the demonstrators of severely affecting the poorest populations.
And this, in a country already weakened by the most serious economic and financial crisis in its history, and which is still awaiting the formation of a new government.
"The situation is very critical in Tripoli, we can even say that the city is on the verge of implosion," Jana Dhaybi, journalist with the independent news site Al-Modon, based in Tripoli, told France 24. was already facing serious economic difficulties due to all the crises that hit the country, sees its poverty worsen even more because of the confinement. "
The journalist reports that thousands of families are deprived of income due to confinement, in a city where the unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country and which has many young day workers.
"The protesters are not afraid of the coronavirus, they refuse to stay at home without working, and to starve, she explains. The current context of interlocking crises means that the coronavirus is only a detail for all those who have to face an increasing number of difficulties. "
"Strangled on all sides"
Omar, an inhabitant of Tripoli contacted by France 24 and who participated in the first evening of the demonstrations, said he was "strangled" by health measures.
"We have no choice, either we catch the Covid, or we starve, he pleads. We are strangled on all sides. The politicians lied to us, stole us, deprived us of everything , and now they want to lock us up instead of letting us work so we can eat. "
If Lebanon, like all countries, suffers from the consequences of the pandemic, the population remains on its own, in the absence of an effective social protection system.
Third consecutive night of protests in #Tripoli against dire living standards, amid seeming govt indifference.
We have not heard plans to provide urgent aid to families struggling to afford food & medicine.
Only tear gas, rubber bullets & water cannons
pic.twitter.com/rmZIwZpLiF
- Aya Majzoub (@Aya_Majzoub) January 27, 2021
"The government neglected the needs of the people of Tripoli and used brute force (...) when they demanded a better life," tweeted Aya Majzoub, researcher at the NGO Human Rights Watch, who called for the opening of an investigation into the death of the protester on Thursday.
"We haven't heard of any plans to provide urgent aid to families struggling to buy food and medicine. It's just tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons. . "
On the side of the authorities, there is no question of softening the containment measures, which they consider justified by the seriousness of the health situation.
The resigning Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, even warned Wednesday against an "attempt to divert the demands of the population for political ends".
His designated successor, Saad Hariri, appointed in October, who is struggling to form a new government due to political blockages, accused "parties who seek to take advantage of people's suffering to deliver political messages".
Still, other smaller demonstrations took place in the country, in the capital Beirut and in Saïda in particular, in the south, where protesters tried to block certain roads.
A contagion that worries the authorities.
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