Collective Action
EDL workers, LU lecturers protest outside Baabda Palace
Electricite du Liban contract workers and Lebanese University lecturers kicked off a demonstration in front of Baabda Palace Thursday, minutes before the start of a Cabinet session.
The protesters blocked roads around the palace, while riot police and guards tightened security, the state-run National News Agency reported.
“Do justice to the workers who aren’t getting wages or social security,” the head of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers, Bechara Asmar, said at the protest.
EDL workers have been holding ongoing protests over the alleged delayed payment of their wages, despite EDL reportedly having transferred the necessary funds to the pertinent EDL contractor.
Lebanese University lecturers have also repeatedly held sit-ins, to protest what they see as sectarian impulses behind LU's hiring decisions. In March, tensions flared after 570 professors – 52 percent of whom were Shiite – were reportedly given tenure.