Date: Jan 14, 2019 Source: The Daily Star Lebanon: Hundreds across country protest against graft, pollution, costs Sahar Houri| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Hundreds of protesters took to the streets over the weekend in demonstrations across the country condemning corruption and deteriorating living conditions. Protests took place Sunday in Sidon, Nabatieh, Zouk Mosbeh, Aley, Baalbeck, Akkar, Zahle and Tripoli, following calls from the Lebanese Communist Party, Popular Nasserite Organization and other civil society groups. Saturday, a few hundred people in Beirut marched from the Labor Ministry to the Health Ministry in a protest under the slogan “We’re all affected, so they’re all responsible.” Several activist groups had called for the protest, including Beirut Madinati, Li Haqqi (For my right) and You Stink. Several protesters near the Labor Ministry said they had been subject to “arbitrary layoffs” by companies and demanded to be paid their outstanding wages. “Where is the Labor Ministry with these high unemployment rates?” one protester said during a live broadcast on Al Jadeed. Once the march arrived at the Health Ministry, protesters directed their chants at the caretaker minister and demanding better health care. One picket sign accused the state of “watching while thousands are dying of cancer.” A protester told TV cameras in front of the Health Ministry, “I was not allowed in a hospital because I had to pay them before entering. We are dying at hospital doors and no one notices us. We are the [majority] that did not vote [in the parliamentary elections]. We should form the government.” Voter turnout at the May polls was about 49 percent. People Sunday gathered facing the Zouk Mosbeh power plant to protest pollution and the crumbling electricity sector. “They are killing us - with cancer, hunger and cold. Killing our dreams and lives,” one protest leader said in a speech. He said the protest’s location at the power plant “is also a symbol of the political system’s failure. We allowed them to rob us of our dignity by accepting and remaining silent and not believing there is hope to change,” he added, calling for another protest on Jan. 20 to tell the political class “that we can replace them.” Riot police from the Internal Security Forces lined up to block the entrance to the plant during the protest, which lasted about an hour. In Sidon, hundreds gathered near the Central Bank building. PNO leader MP Osama Saad, who participated in Sidon’s demonstration, called on people to take to the streets to “fight the state’s irresponsibility ... because it is the only way to take back political, economic and social rights.” Hundreds more marched to the Nabatieh Serail. “We’re moving backwards. We pay two bills each for electricity and water. We just want to live with dignity,” a protester in Nabatieh said, referring to bills paid to private electricity generators and water suppliers to supplement the state’s inadequate utility services. A small protest in front of Zahle’s serail called attention to the deteriorating economy, the state-run National News Agency reported. LCP organizers called for taking action against the pollution of the country’s rivers, particularly the Litani and Berdawni. Other demands including “declaring a state of emergency regarding the increased cases of cancer in Bekaa,” as well as lowering the wages of MPs and ministers while raising the minimum wage, as part of wider labor law reform to reduce unemployment. Protests in Aley, Baalbeck, Tripoli and Akkar saw a lower turnout. In Aley, dozens marched from the serail to the Central Bank’s branch to condemn perceived state inaction. Dozens also gathered in Baalbeck’s Labweh, raising signs that called for “24-hour electricity and water” supply, as others demanded an end to corruption and high taxes. In Tripoli, protesters gathered in front of the National Social Security Fund’s regional office. In Akkar, dozens of people gathered in Halba’s square, most of them carrying communist party flags, according to the NNA. “From Akkar we raise our voices, after the ruling power led us to the political and economic crises we are in,” the party’s representative in Akkar said. The demonstrations over the weekend were the latest organized to protest worsening conditions, amid the monthslong Cabinet formation deadlock. Lebanon has been without a government for more than seven months due to political blocs bickering over their representation in the next Cabinet, as experts and officials warn the country is nearing economic collapse. In December, a few thousand demonstrators massed in Beirut, many in yellow vests in a nod to the gilets jaunes protests that have rocked France, voicing similar demands. That protest saw a heavy-handed security crackdown on civilians and media. Friday, three activists were allegedly attacked for distributing flyers for Saturday’s protest in Chouf by a local policeman, who threatened to take them to Mukhtara, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt’s hometown and a PSP stronghold. Joumblatt said in a tweet Saturday that the incident could be “legally addressed if needed.”