Hundreds of angry protesters then broke into the building of the Ministry of Labor. They were eventually driven out by troops.

The initial protests were part of a general strike called by the General Labor Confederation (CGL) to oppose the spiraling price of gasoline. CGL president Ghassan Ghosn explained that prices in recent months had shot up 150 percent.

“We participated in the demonstration to express dissatisfaction with the government’s economic policies, not to clash with the security forces,” said Mohammad Miqdad, brother of one of the injured protesters.

“The strike took place all over Lebanon. It was the first time in 12 years that a strike had such participation—the banks, the schools, the universities,” said Bashar Abu Sayfan, a worker at one of the country’s TV stations, in an interview. “Only the media and the medical facilities were open. The strike lasted all day in West Beirut, but even in East Beirut there was participation. The major march was in Jounieh and 2,000 workers and minibus drivers participated. There were marches in the north as well. Every city except for Zahle was struck.”

Twelve years ago a wave of strikes forced the government of Prime Minister Omar Karami out of office. In the wake of those struggles the current government of Rafiq Hariri took office.

Abu Sayfan described the events that led to the army assault: “In Hay Al Selloum…there was a crowd approaching an M-113 [a tank without a cannon]. Some people in the crowd began climbing the tank. The soldiers used bayonets to stop them. Two were stabbed, one in the heart and the other in the chest. Then the shooting started by the army.

“During the day the radio and TV started appealing for the officials to intervene. They called government officials. Nobody was answering,” he said.

According to the Daily Star, a Beirut daily, “the following day thousands of mourners gathered to bury their dead chanting anti-government slogans.” The paper reports that the army withdrew its troops from the southern suburbs. Protests continued the next day in various parts of the city as well as in the Bekaa valley where many of the victims were from. The taxi and minibus drivers led these actions.

The General Labor Confederation has called on the strike to stop and for the demonstrations to remain peaceful.

Nabil Freij, a member of Prime Minister Hariri’s parliamentary bloc, sought to deflect blame from the government for the worsening conditions facing working people in Lebanon. “One thing is sure,” he is quoted as saying, “the speed at which the riots spread show that they were not innocent and that the matter is not the making of the General Labor Confederation, but rather of people who took advantage of the protest.”

The current strike occurs in the context of a deepening economic crisis that has been gripping the country. Lebanon, which is a country of 3.5 million, has a foreign debt of $34 billion.  
 
 
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