Lebanese take up protest at worsening economic and social crisis
The protests that began last October in Lebanon, interrupted by the spread of the coronavirus in the country, have returned to the streets. Dozens of people gathered on Sunday in several cities across the country to protest against the government because of the economic and social dissatisfaction of the citizens, according to Europa Press. The army has had to intervene to reopen traffic after protesters cut off some roads with burning tires.
Activists have closed off the main arteries connecting the southern, northern and eastern regions of Lebanon, causing army troops to be deployed to avoid disruptions in movement. Security forces have even fired and injured one person in the west of the country, according to the local newspaper Nidaa al Watan.
This is not the first time this week that demonstrators have broken out of the pandemic lockdown to protest against the economic and social crisis. Last Tuesday, the Lebanese resumed the demonstrations, but this time from their cars in order to comply with the social distancing measures, for the resumption of parliamentary activity after a month of paralysis to approve some controversial laws, according to the Efe agency. Also last week, deputies returned to work to discuss and vote on a controversial amnesty law that would allow some politicians accused of corruption to be pardoned.
The coronavirus pandemic has come to Lebanon in the midst of an economic and social crisis since the civil war (1975-1990). The country has one of the highest public debts in the world (82 billions of euros), over 150% of GDP, and a deficit of 11% by 2018. The demonstrators are demanding the collective resignation of the country's political and economic elite, who are accused of plundering the public coffers and failing to manage public finances properly.
After declaring the first default in its history, the Government has requested financial assistance from the World Bank and the IMF. The World Bank has warned that half the population (up to 4.5% million people) could fall below the poverty line by devaluing the Lebanese pound by a third. Meanwhile, the IMF has predicted a 12% contraction of the Lebanese economy for this year.
The national currency, which has been equated to the dollar since 1997, has lost about 60% of its value in the weeks before the fall of the cabinet of the now former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who was forced to resign in October due to the severe economic crisis.
The closure of shops, banks, borders and imposition and curfews, necessary to prevent the spread of the pandemic, are deepening the economic crisis that the country is suffering. Commodity prices have shot up by 25 to 60 percent and the wave of mass layoffs has added more than 220,000 people since October. The Government has chosen to maintain, although at a lower level, the confinement measures during Ramadan.
Since the end of February, the Beirut Executive closed the educational institutions and since March 15 decreed the state of alarm, with the closure of borders and a curfew that has been relaxed in recent days by the reduction of cases.
In addition, it closed practically all businesses, forcing the owners to close down. Lebanon is one of the countries in the Middle East region that has best managed the coronavirus crisis, with 21 dead and 103 recovered so far.
On February 21, it registered its first case of a female traveler from Iran, one of the countries most affected by the pandemic in the world. Firas Abiad, the executive director of the Rafic Hariri Hospital, the state medical center and the first one accredited to admit patients with COVID-19, assured in declarations to the Efe agency that the "early" closure of the country meant "a rapid decrease in the number of cases of coronavirus infections". Abiad has indicated that these rapid measures meant that the hospital could prepare and avoid a collapse in a state that is also experiencing a serious economic crisis, which has affected the health system of the Mediterranean country.