You are here

Conflict Incident Report

Beit Mery residents angered by plan for waste facility

Date of incident: 
August 14, 2018
Death toll: 
0persons
Number of Injured: 
0persons
Actors/Parties Involved: 
Lebanese Civilians

Three hundred residents descended on Beit Mery’s civic square Monday evening, angry over a plan to build a waste sorting and treatment plant in a picturesque valley nearby.

“You don’t cut down trees to build a trash plant,” Serge Khazen, a mechanical engineer and resident of the town, told The Daily Star.

Some protesters carried signs emblazoned with slogans against the plan: “A trash plant in the Lamartine Valley? Who can believe it?” “Don’t pollute our water,” “Karantina, Costa Brava, Beit Mery!” – the latter putting the town in the company of notoriously polluted areas.

Those present held a tense, 15-minute back-and-forth with Deputy Mayor Sami Moukheiber, who is also against the plan, before dispersing afterward.

Primary category: 
Collective Action [inc. protests, solidarity movements...]
Classification of conflict (primary): 
Policy conflicts
Conflicts associated with political decisions, government or state policies regarding matters of public concern, such as debates concerning law reforms, electoral laws, and protests of the government’s political decisions, among others.