Analysts: Power cuts amount to punishment - Protesters agree, accuse state of targeting pro-opposition neighborhoods
Source: IRIN, 31-01-2008
BEIRUT: Deadly protests over power and water cuts in mostly Muslim-Shiite southern Beirut occurred because these services have become part of the country's increasingly tense political standoff, protesters and analysts say. At least nine people were killed and 22 wounded after gunfire erupted during a confrontation between angry demonstrators and the army on January 27. Investigations are under way to determine the source of the deadly fire.
Opposition protesters, who said they had received only four hours of power and water over the past few days, used blazing tires to block several main roads in the area - including the road to the airport. They also burned several car and smashed shop windows.
"The government is punishing the Muslim-Shiites because we are in the opposition," protester Ali Abdullah, 21, told IRIN at the scene of the riot in Mar Mikhael, where several people were killed in the incident.
The confrontation began between the army and supporters of the Amal movement but reportedly spread to include gunmen from the neighboring Christian-majority neighborhoods and led to the deaths of several Hizbullah supporters.
"Life in this neighborhood is very hard," said Abdullah. "We don't have enough power or water and no money and few job prospects."
Ahmad Moussali, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said basic service provision had become part of the political deadlock that has pitched the Western-backed government against an opposition supported by Iran and Syria, and left Lebanon without a president, a functioning Parliament or a universally recognized Cabinet.
"Certain areas of Beirut have been punished by the government by having electricity shortages and the threat of rising bread prices," he said, referring to the Hizbullah-controlled southern suburbs, where several protests have taken place over the past three months against power cuts.
The government denies politicizing electricity, arguing that many households in the suburbs into the network without paying for it, which causes short-circuits and blackouts.
Villages in Muslim-Shiite-majority South Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley regularly have their electricity cut after 6 p.m., but in recent months outages have been extended to Beirut. Though nearly all neighborhoods suffer power cuts, the southern suburbs are worst hit, with few families able to afford to run generators on increasingly expensive diesel. Parts of central Beirut, on the other hand, enjoy 20 hours of electricity a day.
In its latest National Human Development report the UN Development Program highlighted growing disparities in Lebanon.
While general literacy has decreased nationwide, in the Bekaa it has increased; in 1995-2005 Beirut received 16 percent of total public investment spending, despite having only 8 percent of households categorized as in need of basic services. By comparison, in the Muslim-Shiite town of Nabatiyeh in South Lebanon, where 11 percent of households struggle, the state spent just 1 percent.
The rioting on Sunday followed an earlier strike by the General Labor Confederation in which hundreds of taxi drivers blocked roads and turned down passengers in protest over rising fuel and food prices.
"Two years ago, 20 liters of gasoline was LL15,000 ($10) and I used to make a profit of LL40,000 a day," 40-year-old taxi driver Khaled Abdel-Hadi told IRIN at one of the protests. "Today fuel is LL25,000 and I'm lucky to make 10,000 profit, which is hardly enough to feed my wife and children two meals a day."
Abdel-Hadi said he recognized that global factors were driving up prices for basic commodities but said the "government is doing nothing to support its citizens."
Though meant as a nationwide union strike, in areas such as west Beirut's Hamra, dominated by pro-US backed government parties such as the Future Movement, many taxis were seen working as normal, highlighting the politicized nature of the labor protest.
BEIRUT: Deadly protests over power and water cuts in mostly Muslim-Shiite southern Beirut occurred because these services have become part of the country's increasingly tense political standoff, protesters and analysts say. At least nine people were killed and 22 wounded after gunfire erupted during a confrontation between angry demonstrators and the army on January 27. Investigations are under way to determine the source of the deadly fire.
Opposition protesters, who said they had received only four hours of power and water over the past few days, used blazing tires to block several main roads in the area - including the road to the airport. They also burned several car and smashed shop windows.
"The government is punishing the Muslim-Shiites because we are in the opposition," protester Ali Abdullah, 21, told IRIN at the scene of the riot in Mar Mikhael, where several people were killed in the incident.
The confrontation began between the army and supporters of the Amal movement but reportedly spread to include gunmen from the neighboring Christian-majority neighborhoods and led to the deaths of several Hizbullah supporters.
"Life in this neighborhood is very hard," said Abdullah. "We don't have enough power or water and no money and few job prospects."
Ahmad Moussali, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said basic service provision had become part of the political deadlock that has pitched the Western-backed government against an opposition supported by Iran and Syria, and left Lebanon without a president, a functioning Parliament or a universally recognized Cabinet.
"Certain areas of Beirut have been punished by the government by having electricity shortages and the threat of rising bread prices," he said, referring to the Hizbullah-controlled southern suburbs, where several protests have taken place over the past three months against power cuts.
The government denies politicizing electricity, arguing that many households in the suburbs into the network without paying for it, which causes short-circuits and blackouts.
Villages in Muslim-Shiite-majority South Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley regularly have their electricity cut after 6 p.m., but in recent months outages have been extended to Beirut. Though nearly all neighborhoods suffer power cuts, the southern suburbs are worst hit, with few families able to afford to run generators on increasingly expensive diesel. Parts of central Beirut, on the other hand, enjoy 20 hours of electricity a day.
In its latest National Human Development report the UN Development Program highlighted growing disparities in Lebanon.
While general literacy has decreased nationwide, in the Bekaa it has increased; in 1995-2005 Beirut received 16 percent of total public investment spending, despite having only 8 percent of households categorized as in need of basic services. By comparison, in the Muslim-Shiite town of Nabatiyeh in South Lebanon, where 11 percent of households struggle, the state spent just 1 percent.
The rioting on Sunday followed an earlier strike by the General Labor Confederation in which hundreds of taxi drivers blocked roads and turned down passengers in protest over rising fuel and food prices.
"Two years ago, 20 liters of gasoline was LL15,000 ($10) and I used to make a profit of LL40,000 a day," 40-year-old taxi driver Khaled Abdel-Hadi told IRIN at one of the protests. "Today fuel is LL25,000 and I'm lucky to make 10,000 profit, which is hardly enough to feed my wife and children two meals a day."
Abdel-Hadi said he recognized that global factors were driving up prices for basic commodities but said the "government is doing nothing to support its citizens."
Though meant as a nationwide union strike, in areas such as west Beirut's Hamra, dominated by pro-US backed government parties such as the Future Movement, many taxis were seen working as normal, highlighting the politicized nature of the labor protest.
