Demonstrators blocked roads in Lebanon to protest the unprecedented worsening of living conditions in a country where 80% of the population is in poverty. Many shops and schools closed their doors on Monday, November 29 at the call of protest movements.
With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh
Driven by anger and despair, demonstrators resumed Monday with the closure of roads after months of lull on the front of the Lebanese protest movement.
Early in the morning, groups of protesters began cutting major highways and secondary roads within towns, using flaming tires and dumpsters.
Traffic was disrupted across the country and schools remained closed. In Beirut, demonstrators crisscrossed popular neighborhoods chanting slogans calling for the departure of leaders, unable to slow down the economic and social collapse.
Flare up of anger
In the north, Tripoli, Lebanon’s second city, was completely paralyzed. In Saïda, 40 kilometers south of Beirut, protesters called for a civil disobedience movement.
This outbreak of anger comes against a backdrop of unprecedented worsening of living conditions. The depreciation of the Lebanese pound continues against the dollar, causing prices to skyrocket.
Many basic consumer goods have become an unaffordable luxury for a large part of the population. Infant milk costs one sixth of the minimum wage, 20 liters of gasoline is worth 50% of that wage.
This day of anger, which passed without incident, is only the beginning of a vast movement, the organizers announced.
► To listen again: “Lebanon, in the heart of chaos” of a bankrupt State (Orient Hebdo)