Demonstrators blocked roads through Lebanon late Sunday to protest the deteriorating economic situation, despite a lockdown and curfew imposed because of the coronavirus, according to the official news agency.
Police quickly intervened to reopen the highways where the demonstrators burned tyres to block roads, the ANI national news agency said.
In Zalqa sector, northeast of Beirut, six people were injured, Lebanese Red Cross official Rodney Eid told AFP without providing further details.
An AFP photographer saw protesters setting tyres ablaze on the highway north of the capital, in the suburbs of Dbaiyeh, before the army and police moved in.
Protesters also mobilized in the main northern city of Tripoli, according to ANI. And south of Beirut, young people set tires ablaze on the Damour highway, the agency said.
Protesters have staged several daytime demonstrations recently, including a convoy of cars in the capital last week, despite the coronavirus lockdown and nighttime curfew.
A nationwide protest movement erupted in October last year, with hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating against the ruling elite and the rampant graft critics say has brought the economy to its knees.
Lebanon’s worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war is now compounded by the coronavirus lockdown. Poverty has risen to 45 percent of the population, according to official estimates.
Its economy is forecast to contract 12 percent in 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund.
The Lebanese pound has also plummeted against the dollar, resulting in high inflation.
Read more:
Coronavirus: Ramadan shoppers in Lebanon’s Tripoli fear economic crisis over virus
Lebanon’s PM demands 5 years’ worth of salary from university in dollar wire transfer
Lebanon’s central bank caps dollar price for FX dealers at 3,200 pounds
Also Read
-
Lebanon c. bank sets 3,800 pounds per dollar rate at money transfer firms
The Lebanese central bank set an exchange rate of 3,800 Lebanese pounds per dollar to be applied by money transfer firms on Monday, an-Nahar newspaper ... Economy -
Lebanon’s PM demands 5 years’ worth of salary from university in dollar wire transfer
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab asked the American University of Beirut (AUB) in January to pay him what he considered his “dues”, equivalent to ... Middle East -
Lebanon’s central bank caps dollar price for FX dealers at 3,200 pounds
Lebanon’s central bank said foreign exchange dealers could not sell US dollars for more than 3,200 Lebanese pounds, according to a circular on ... Economy -
Lebanon’s Berri warns against sacking central bank governor
Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri has warned that removing the central bank governor would send the currency tumbling and threaten deposits, ... Middle East
