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Conflict Incident Report
Locals gather against Koura cement factories
Dozens of residents in Koura took to the highway in Kfar Hazir Sunday to hold a sit-in to demand the closure of local cement factories and call on the government to ban cement exports over health concerns.
The protest, organized by the environmental committee of Kfar Hazir, issued a list of short-term and long-term demands, read out by the committee’s coordinator George Costantine al-Itani.
Speaking "on behalf of the martyrs of cancer caused by cement factories," Itani called on the factories to relocate to Lebanon’s east, and demolish their current facilities in residential areas, accusing the plants of killing Koura’s residents with their alleged poor practices, such as “burning petcoke in residential areas.”
Itani brought up the nearing Parliamentary elections and called on candidates to take the first step to urgently close down unauthorized quarries, place a ban on the exports of highly-polluting cement products and obligate factories to replace petcoke with natural gas.
In return, he said Koura's residents "would repay the favor," hinting that prioritizing the cause would secure votes from locals.
He additionally called on the government to stop plans for increased production and expansion as part of the short-term demands.
As for long-term demands, Itani called on officials to implement a reforestation project on cement company properties and decrease the price of local cement.