Collective Action

From Tripoli to Tyre and Baalbeck to Beirut, thousands of Lebanese took to the streets Thursday night, forcing the government to backtrack on an unpopular tax it had approved just a day earlier on internet-based phone calls over services like WhatsApp. Protesters blocked main roads across Lebanon with burning tyres. Several roads in Beirut were also cut with protesters igniting garbage bins, wood and other materials. Skirmishes took place between protesters and riot police blocking the road to the Serial, in which at least two protesters were injured. The Red Cross said it rushed 22 people to hospitals and treated 70 on the scene, while the Internal Security Forces said in a tweet 60 police suffered injuries. Police later used water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.