Collective Action
Beirut protest decries corruption, politicians' vacations
Protesters gathered in Downtown Beirut’s Riad al-Solh Square Sunday in condemnation of the government’s failure to provide basic services, also decrying rampant corruption and abysmal pollution levels throughout the country.
“We’re here to protest everything from pollution, corruption, schools and businesses closing and even the vacations these politicians are taking while we suffer,” a mother of two, who asked not to be named, told The Daily Star at the Sabaa Party-organized demonstration.
Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil all returned to Beirut from vacations abroad last week at a time when talks are at a standstill over the formation of a new government.
But in spite of representing concerns widely expressed in Lebanese society, Sunday’s protest drew a meager 100 demonstrators.