Collective Action

Activists raided the Energy Ministry Thursday in protest of electricity shortages with one activist, Wassef el-Harakeh, an unsuccessful candidate in the May 2022 general elections, saying that “the confrontation will continue in all ministries,” videos circulating on social media showed. “Bring us the minister!” demonstrators stormed the headquarters of the Energy Ministry in Corniche al-Nahr, Beirut, and demanded to meet caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayad. In videos filmed by activists and shared on social media, about 20 people can be seen crowding the premises of the ministry, some of whom tried to move further inside but were blocked by the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces.

This is not the first time protesters enter the Energy Ministry. Activists had broken in and vandalized the ministry in April, where they tore down and ripped up a portrait of Lebanese President Michel Aoun to protest increasingly frequent power cuts.