Location on the Lebanese territory

Employees of state-run telecoms giant Ogero held a strike in Sidon Thursday in protest of their wage stagnation, in the latest development in a months-long dispute.

The strike reportedly took place in all of Ogero’s Sidon branches and in other areas of southern Lebanon after workers’ wages remained largely unchanged despite the passage of a salary hike for public sector workers last year.

 Electricite du Liban contract workers briefly blocked a main highway during a protest that erupted into intermittent clashes with riot police.

The workers, who initially were demonstrating at EDL headquarters in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael, headed to the adjacent highway, blocking it and bringing traffic to a halt.

President of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers Bechara Asmar urged the protesters to head back to the headquarters, saying that their action would impact other Lebanese citizens.

Government hospital employees across Lebanon brought to a close an open-ended strike Monday after Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani met with their union representatives and agreed to a list of demands.

Workers had been striking across the country, with strikes reported in the southern city of Sidon and in front of the Health Ministry in Beirut Monday. Workers demanded the implementation of the salary scale law and called for their working hours to be defined.

A group of members from civil society gathered in Beirut’s Riad al-Solh Square to protest the government’s adoption of plans to use waste incinerators across the country. “We hold the Beirut municipality, its mayor, the deputy mayor and 22 of its members responsible for the decision to use incinerators,” one protester said in a televised broadcast from the demonstration. She added that a lawsuit would be filed if this decision was not revoked by the Beirut municipality.