Collective Action

Several people cut the roads and burned tires in Beirut’s southern Jnah area Thursday in protest of a Ghobeiri Municipality decision to remove unlicensed coffee and juice shops on one of its main streets.

This was the municipality’s second attempt at removing the area’s unlicensed coffee shops occupying the sidewalk under the Sultan Ibrahim bridge in Jnah. In September, the municipality decided to remove all violating kiosks from its streets.

Local news channel Al-Jadeed interviewed one of the protesters, who had a juice and coffee wooden shack since 2006.

The owner showed a license he obtained for his shack in 2009, saying he renewed it in 2016.

“When the new mayor came in, he canceled all the licenses,” the owner claimed.