Young men gather on scooters in front of a closed gas station in Saida (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Angry demonstrators cut several highways across Lebanon on Saturday morning, protesting fuel shortages. Meanwhile, hourslong lines again stretched in front of gas stations, with people often waiting for fuel in vein.
Here’s what we know:
• In Zouk Mosbeh, on the road leading to Jeita, motorists who spent the night in their cars in front of a gas station blocked the road this morning to protest the lack of fuel available for sale. The army intervened to reopen the road.
• Angry citizens also blocked the highway at Antelias in both directions, and others set fire to tires on the road to Beit Chaar in Metn.
• In Saida, residents stormed a gas station near Elia Square to force its owner to refuel motorists who had been waiting for hour; however, they found that the stations tanks were empty, our sister publication L’Orient-Le Jour reports.
• According to the state-run National News Agency and the Road Traffic Management Center, the northern highway connecting Beirut to Tripoli was cut in several locations. In Chekka, protesters blocked traffic by parking their cars in the middle of the road to pressure a closed gas station there to open its doors and allow motorists to refuel.
• Meanwhile, the highway linking Beirut to South Lebanon was blocked and then reopened at Damour.
• The road to Damascus was also cut at Aley, as well as the road to Zahle. L’Orient-Le Jour reports that young protesters stormed a gas station in Zahle, accessing tanks containing 300,000 liters of gasoline and selling the fuel to motorists at official prices, before giving the proceeds to the station’s owners.
• Since Banque du Liban announced on Wednesday evening that it would end fuel subsidies — a decision contested by the government and which would lead to a than 300 percent rise in fuel prices — most gas stations have stopped selling fuel pending an official decision on the prices they should charge for it.