BEIRUT (AP) – It is an expression of anger, but also of helplessness: anti-government protesters in Lebanon are burning tires to block key roads, releasing dense clouds of smoke rising above the capital Beirut and other parts of the country.
Tactics have become the hallmark of a new explosion of demonstrations against an uncompromising political class that seems to be doing little as its country slides into the political and economic abyss. Lebanon is mired in the worst economic crisis in its modern history, and the situation has been exacerbated by pandemic restrictions and an overwhelmed health care sector.
“Fire releases our anger. It calms our hearts, “said Mounir Hujairi, a 23-year-old protester from Baalbek, northeastern Lebanon, who juggles his time between low-paid day services and protests.
The smoke and soot of the tire blacken the faces of the protesters in anti-virus masks at roadblocks that change traffic around Beirut and between cities. The persistence of the protesters and the daily burning of tires underline how complicated the country’s problems have become.
Anti-government rallies began to hit Lebanon in late 2019. Since then, the local currency has collapsed after being pegged to the dollar for nearly 30 years. Wages remained the same as inflation rose. People have lost their jobs, and poverty has affected almost 50% of the population.
Meanwhile, the sect-based political system in Lebanon is blocked. Politicians have refused to compromise on forming a government or making difficult financial decisions for fear of losing their influence or support base.
Exhausted, scared and restrained by the coronavirus, the Lebanese watched as members of the ruling elite blamed each other for the crisis.
Last week, the currency reached a record high, trading on the black market at 11,000 pounds against the dollar, down from 1,500 officials – triggering a new wave of protests.
“The solution will only come to the streets,” said Hujairi, who took part in the protests in October 2019. “Of course, those whose streets – or the streets of their political parties – are blocked will be upset.”
Roadblocks are a desperate way to reclaim the anger felt at the national level in 2019, when the government was forced to resign, causing a brief period of euphoria and hoping that change could be possible.
The national mood is now more frightening. Officials warned of the chaos, and some claimed the protests were manipulated by political groups to trigger violence or extract concessions from rivals.
Many fear that social tension has reached unprecedented levels since the outbreak of the civil war in April 1975. In the next 15 years of conflict, burning tires has become commonplace – a cheap way to establish obstacles between warring factions.
Tire fires are hard to put out and can go on for hours, attracting attention and keeping rivals at bay.
The tactic was used in the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Sudan.
Palestinians burned tires during protests against the Israeli occupation, beginning with their first uprising that broke out in 1987. Three decades later, during protests against the blockade of the Israeli-Egyptian border in Gaza, young people formed “tire crews” who led around the small coastal strip with the motorcycle. rich to collect tires for burning. The black smoke served to hide the identity of those who threw stones at Israeli forces.
Open tire fires, which have been used in some countries to power furnaces, have been outlawed in most parts of the world due to high emissions of pollutants.
Sahar Mandour, a Lebanese researcher at Amnesty International, said the practice of burning tires as a form of protest began in many countries in the 1980s. But since then, it is no longer fashionable due to its impact on the environment.
“It simply came to our notice then. … But not Lebanon, ”she said. “We have the same parties and the same leaders, so the tools are the same.”
Hujairi claims that he and his friends burn between 100 and 150 tires a day. He said he collects used and perforated tires from piles of garbage, rejecting claims that political parties distribute.
“A little black smoke will not hurt,” Hujairi said in response to criticism. “We have no way to get to the houses of politicians.”