Hundreds of people protested in Lebanon's capital Sunday over increasingly difficult living conditions, amid fears of a dollar shortage and possible price hikes. A skirmish broke out as protesters tried to break through security barriers in front of the cabinet office and anti-riot forces pushed them back with shields and batons, an AFP photographer said.
Demonstrators briefly cut off several Beirut thoroughfares, some with burning tyres emitting billowing black smoke.
Around 500 people, some carrying Lebanese flags, had gathered earlier in the capital's central Martyrs' Square to march to the seats of government and parliament, the photographer said.
"Revolution, revolution," cried some of the protesters.
Outside parliament, dozens of men and women streamed in from a side street under the watchful eye of security forces.
"Government, parliament... Thieves, thieves!" they chanted.
Others chanted a popular refrain of the 2011 Arab Spring protests across the region: "The people want the fall of the regime".
"We toil day and night just to be able to live," said a 52-year-old Lebanese woman, asking to remain anonymous.
"They've starved us, stolen from us. Enough is enough," she told AFP, visibly enraged.
In the northern seaside city of Tripoli, dozens of protesters also gathered, some setting fire to tyres.
Petrol station owners on Thursday declared a strike over banks refusing to supply them in dollars needed to pay importers.
But they suspended it the following day after reaching a deal with the government to pay suppliers in Lebanese pounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment