Moledet
05-27-2004, 04:35 PM
By DPA
BEIRUT - At least three protestors were shot dead in Beirut Thursday after Lebanese troops opened fire on stone-throwers demonstrating against high fuel prices, police and witnesses said.
Firefighters had used water cannons to disperse about 600 demonstrators in the Hay el-Solem neighborhood in the southern suburbs, which prompted some protestors to retaliate with stones, the sources said.
Troops at the scene opened fire, killing three people and injuring at least nine, witnesses in Hay al Solem told DPA.
Troops had earlier fired assault rifles into the air to disperse the protestors, who were participating in a nationwide action called by the Lebanese labor union.
The strike crippled private and public schools, public transport and many businesses and industries across the country.
The labor union had called for peaceful sit-ins in major cities to protest government fiscal policies and petrol prices, which they want cut from about 17 dollars per 20 liters to some 10 dollars.
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has urged his justice minister and the general prosecutor to investigate why gas stations have failed to comply with last week's cabinet decision to cut the price of 20 liters by about 1.30 dollars.
Outside cabinet headquarters, dozens of protestors held a sit-in, carrying banners denouncing the high gasoline prices, corruption, fiscal policies and unemployment.
"The government is forcing us to go back to a no-oil era," read a placard showing a donkey.
Under the watchful eye of army and security forces, the protestors chanted slogans against the government for a couple of hours before dispersing peacefully.
Other protestors blocked the roads leading to Beirut airport with burning tyres. Streets in the Ouzai district, near the airport, were blocked with garbage cans.
In the southern port city of Tyre, about 100 taxi drivers blocked access to the city for about one hour before giving in to orders by army and security forces to reopen the roadway.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/432395.html
I still haven't heard the Arabs/the EU complaining that that's a crime.
P.S. That's not the final amount of dead civilians, I guess that tomorrow they will publish the final amount.
BEIRUT - At least three protestors were shot dead in Beirut Thursday after Lebanese troops opened fire on stone-throwers demonstrating against high fuel prices, police and witnesses said.
Firefighters had used water cannons to disperse about 600 demonstrators in the Hay el-Solem neighborhood in the southern suburbs, which prompted some protestors to retaliate with stones, the sources said.
Troops at the scene opened fire, killing three people and injuring at least nine, witnesses in Hay al Solem told DPA.
Troops had earlier fired assault rifles into the air to disperse the protestors, who were participating in a nationwide action called by the Lebanese labor union.
The strike crippled private and public schools, public transport and many businesses and industries across the country.
The labor union had called for peaceful sit-ins in major cities to protest government fiscal policies and petrol prices, which they want cut from about 17 dollars per 20 liters to some 10 dollars.
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has urged his justice minister and the general prosecutor to investigate why gas stations have failed to comply with last week's cabinet decision to cut the price of 20 liters by about 1.30 dollars.
Outside cabinet headquarters, dozens of protestors held a sit-in, carrying banners denouncing the high gasoline prices, corruption, fiscal policies and unemployment.
"The government is forcing us to go back to a no-oil era," read a placard showing a donkey.
Under the watchful eye of army and security forces, the protestors chanted slogans against the government for a couple of hours before dispersing peacefully.
Other protestors blocked the roads leading to Beirut airport with burning tyres. Streets in the Ouzai district, near the airport, were blocked with garbage cans.
In the southern port city of Tyre, about 100 taxi drivers blocked access to the city for about one hour before giving in to orders by army and security forces to reopen the roadway.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/432395.html
I still haven't heard the Arabs/the EU complaining that that's a crime.
P.S. That's not the final amount of dead civilians, I guess that tomorrow they will publish the final amount.