ANSD : Protests pick up again overnight and into Friday

FRI 22 - 11 - 2024

Date: Mar 6, 2020
Source: The Daily Star

Protests pick up again overnight and into Friday

BEIRUT: Soaring Lebanese pound exchange rates and deteriorating living conditions brought protesters to the streets for the second night in a row Thursday, with some demonstrations picking up again Friday morning.

Protesters used rocks and tires to block the Bohsas main road south of Tripoli, causing severe traffic jams Friday morning.

“The demonstrations will continue until the county is free of corruption, the corrupt are held to account and the stolen money is recovered,” one protester told the state-run National News Agency.

The Lebanese Army was deployed to disperse the demonstrators.

The NNA also reported that unknown arsonists set a protest tent alight overnight in Sawfar in Tyre. The Army is carrying out an investigation into the incident.

Late Thursday hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of Antelias and Beirut, blocking the famous “Ring Bridge.”

Demonstrations, which started Oct. 17, 2019, have regained momentum in the past week as the government struggles to find a solution to the country’s crippling financial crisis.

Uncertainty about its approach has caused the Lebanese pound to slide drastically. The pound Friday morning was being traded at around L.L.2,645 to the dollar, representing a 43 percent devaluation on the official rate of L.L.1507.5.

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