Friday's two suicide incidents in Lebanon, most likely linked to a living squeeze due to the country's rapid economic collapse, have sparked a wave of reactions denouncing the official performance in crisis management.
In broad daylight, in a space in front of a building on Beirut's busy Hamra Street, which houses a café, a popular store, and a theater, a 61-year-old citizen from Hermel (East) committed suicide by firing a bullet from a pistol he had in his possession.
His relative left a copy of his legal record affixed to a paper under which he wrote handwriting the slogan "I am not an infidel" (I am not a disbeliever) after the beginning of a revolutionary song by Ziad Al-Rahbani, followed by the phrase "but (but) hunger is a disbeliever", indicating probably his difficult living situation.
Dozens of protesters gathered at the suicide site and blocked the road for a short time, holding up several signs, one of which read, "He did not commit suicide, he was killed in cold blood." A young man held a second banner saying, "On the run, death due to poverty and hunger."
During his removal from the scene, one of his relatives cried. "My cousin killed himself because of starvation ... God cursed this country," he said with emotion.
"Today there is a person who committed suicide in the red and the people are still silent and asleep ... a person killed by the (political) class and poverty," Saba Marwa told France Press during her participation in the sit-in.
In the village of Jadra, near the city of Sidon (south), the body of a 37-year-old man was found hanging Friday in a room in his house.
Jadra's mayor, Joseph Al-Kazzi, told AFP that the young man, who is the father of a little girl and works as a minibus driver, hanged himself with a rope that he hung on the ceiling of the living room while his family was outside the house.
The young man was suffering from difficult financial conditions due to the faltering economic situation, according to Al-Kazzi.
A spokesman for the Internal Security Forces confirmed that the two incidents were suicides, pointing to the increase in suicide rates since the beginning of the year, without being able to determine the percentage.
On his account on Facebook, the university professor and economist Jad Shaaban wrote, commenting on the two incidents, "Those who died today and yesterday and before them, were killed and did not commit suicide." They were killed by a ruling junta ready to kill us, starve us, and impoverish us in order to preserve their interests. ”
Lebanon is witnessing an accelerated economic meltdown, which is the worst in the country in decades, the repercussions of which are not excluded by any social class. With him tens of thousands have lost their jobs or part of their salaries during the past few months. Almost half of the Lebanese people live below the poverty line, while 35 percent of the workforce suffers from unemployment.
The crisis is accompanied by an unprecedented decline in the value of the lira, as its exchange rate against the dollar crossed the threshold of nine thousand this week, while the official price is fixed at 1507 pounds.
This caused a frenzy of high cost and eroded the purchasing power of a wide segment of the Lebanese population.