Lebanon Nears Social Explosion–MES EP.120

As soon as the Governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh, committed his “crime” by issuing a decision to lift subsidies from fuel last week, most of the gas stations that were selling fuel to citizens in the villages and towns of Lebanon halted their sale, not because they had run out of fuel, but rather in order to benefit from the quantities purchased at the old price, and sell them based on the prices that were traded after Salemeh’s decision. Like wildfire, the decision to lift subsidies ignited the country. The majority of the station owners continued their greed in the absence of the regulatory and security agencies, and fear dominated citizens amid concerns that began to loom on the horizon following the decision to lift the subsidy, and its impact on the rest of the medical and service sectors, and even on the means of transportation available.

To discuss this issue with us from Beirut is Gina Chmmas Political commentator, President of the NGO Lebanon Certified Anti-Corruption Managers (LCACM).

Akkar, governorate in northern Lebanon, is still trying to absorb the horror of the “massacre” that occurred at dawn on Sunday, and with it the whole country, and it is trying to pick up the remains of young people and children from the region’s poor. The tragedy befell when a gas tank exploded in the town of Al-Talil, inside tanks above ground within the gravel and sand stock of one fuel monopolist called George Rashid. The governorate deprived of fuel was hit hard with the tragedy. Those who begged for fuel at the doors of the gas stations to be able to get to work, turned into charred corpses. Akkar’s sad, bloody dawn and the smell of death overwhelmed everything in the battered state of Lebanon.

We continue Gina Chmmas Political commentator, President of the NGO Lebanon Certified Anti-Corruption Managers (LCACM).