Protests rock Lebanon as anger grows over virus lockdown

  • Date: 26-Jan-2021
  • Source: Arab Weekly
  • Sector:Defense
  • Country:Lebanon
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Protests rock Lebanon as anger grows over virus lockdown

 BEIRUT – Dozens of Lebanese protesters, enraged at a nearly month-long lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus, took to the streets of three major cities in Lebanon on Monday.

Demonstrators in Beirut raised slogans, holding the political class responsible for the economic collapse. They blocked a main road in the capital for about half an hour before it was reopened, without confrontation with security forces.

In Tripoli, the country's second largest city, protests raged for the third day in a row, with demonstrators complaining that their region, the most impoverished in Lebanon, is unable to cope with the nearly month-long lockdown with little to no government assistance. The lockdown is in place until February 8.

The protesters reportedly pelted security forces with stones, prompting them to respond with tear gas to break up the gathering that violated a strict lockdown in place since mid-January aimed at containing a major surge in infection in the small Mediterranean country.

Tripoli was already reeling under the impact of economic crunch and local media has reported violations of the lockdown measures there were most prevalent.

As tension built up, army troops eventually deployed to break up scuffles between security forces and protesters. But protesters continued to trickle into the