- A 29-year-old has died and another 200 have been wounded in clashes between Lebanese security forces and protesters in Tripoli. This week citizens are coming out on the streets every day, indignant at the closure decreed by the Government due to the pandemic, which has further damaged the economy of a population in very poor condition.
The first deceased was a 29-year-old neighbor of Tripoli identified as Omar Taybak. On Wednesday night, the police shot him. All Jazeera reports from an AFP correspondent: “Protesters threw cocktails and Molotov stones at security forces and responded with tear gas.” There are dozens of wounded and hospitalized.
The curfew decreed this month has aggravated the economic crisis that the country has been experiencing for months. Many citizens of Tripoli have run out of income since Lebanon decreed the final closure earlier this month in order to stop the increase in COVID-19 cases and prevent the hospital from overflowing. The curfew is in effect throughout the country and the authorities have extended the blockade for another two weeks, until 8 February.
People are prohibited from leaving their homes if they are not workers in key sectors, and they have to rely on home deliveries from supermarkets to get food, which does not reach the poorest neighborhoods.
More than 289,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 2,553 people have died from this disease in Lebanon since the beginning of the pandemic. But the situation has worsened dramatically over the last month.