Conflict Incident Report

BEIRUT: Civil Defense volunteers staged a brief rally  in Beirut’s Riad al-Solh Square to press Parliament to make them full-time employees. “We have been waiting for four years for [officials] to meet our demands,” the volunteers’ spokesman Youssef Mallah said in a statement at the rally. “There have been some positive signs ... but if we don’t witness any progress we will resort to [escalatory] steps.” He added that the group was “working with complete secrecy on upcoming measures.” Lebanon has 2,553 Civil Defense volunteers. Most are ambulance first-responders, rescue workers and firefighters. In August, volunteers marched toward Israel’s technical fence near the southern border village of Marjayoun and erected a camp in an attempt to press the state to make them full-time employees with benefits. It was the latest move in a series of protests by the volunteers as they mounted a monthslong campaign in an effort to obtain what they say are their rights.