Thursday, March 28

The death of seven people in a shipwreck in Tripoli provokes clashes with the Lebanese Army


  • In the most impoverished city in the Mediterranean, the Lebanese Navy would have intercepted a ship that was trying to reach the European coast of Cyprus and would have caused its sinking

  • Dozens of young people express their anger and mourning by blocking roads, throwing stones at troops and ripping up electoral posters of millionaire candidates

“Tripoli, city ​​of peace» reads a graffiti in the main square of this city in northern Lebanon. At his feet, the bustle of the streets in the month of Ramadan does not stop. The fire burns inside a couple of containers that seek to block access to the roundabout. While some young people confront the Army and tear down electoral posters, families celebrate impromptu funerals. Others still hope that the sea spits out the bodies of theirs. More than 60 people suffered shipwreck of his boat when leaving the Lebanese coast. His search for a better life was reportedly intercepted by the Lebanese navy. for now, seven people have died.

Quickly, rage flared up. most impoverished city in the Mediterranean. In turn, the Prime Minister of Lebanon, the billionaire Najib Mikati, hails from Tripoli. “The people of Tripoli are being killed by the owner of this yacht,” reads a banner in front of the president’s $100 million boat. In a much smaller boat, with capacity for just six people, about 60 were crowded during the night of Saturday. They left for European shores. The closest ones are on the island of Cyprus233 kilometers from Tripoli.

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According to survivors, it was the lebanese navy in his attempt to stop the ship who rammed it and caused its sinking. Then, an hour and a half later, the Lebanese Army came to rescue them. But it was too late. The ship was sinking and with it, her passengers. While the search and rescue work unfold against the clock, the combative people of Tripoli express their duel. Just a few hours after the tragedy, a group of residents attacked an Army post in the city, throwing stones to the troops. They have responded with shots fired into the air, the noise of which is confused with the bullets at funerals.

“Suffering for Centuries”

“Since the shipwreck, the shooting has barely stopped; I can hear them right now,” he says. Ziad al Zayyat from Tripoli. “If the government and the Army authorities do not assume responsibility for what happened and stop denying it as they have done in their official statement, there will be serious problems», he adds for EL PERIÓDICO. The level of poverty in this northern city was already alarming before the economic crisis that began in 2019. “Now they live on less than a dollar a day,” says the young Tripolitan. Nothing to loseits citizens throw themselves into the sea or those who remain on land, today settle in the streets to express their indignation. The practical desperation of him.

Until a couple of years ago, it was the Syrian refugees who left on the barges of death. Now the economic debacle has democratized the suffering until reaching the Lebanese. In Tripoli, a city historically abandoned by the authorities, the situation has always been worse. “We are all sad and angry, not only the relatives of the dead or missing, but everyone here is suffering, as in the rest of Lebanon,” Ziad admits. Although people here have suffered for centuries, and it is the poverty which leads them to risk their lives to reach Europe,” he says.

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General elections

Related news

The next 15 th of May Lebanon will hold general elections. Are the first elections after the economic crisis, the mass protests in the fall of 2019 and the tragic burst in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020 that claimed more than 200 lives. During the protests in Tripoli, the youth have expressed their rage by tearing down the electoral posters with the faces of millionaire candidates. As they continue to search for a handful of missing people, tensions have risen on the southern border with Israel after a rocket was fired due to clashes in Jerusalem. The Israeli Army has responded with artillery fire.

The Lebanese spend their days trying to survive and calculating how to reach a place where they can live with dignity. “These people are trying to imitate the path that allowed some Syrian refugees to reach Europe so they have hope», explains Al Zayyad, «but the problem is that the Lebanese we are not considered refugees even though we are suffering all these crises.” Faced with the vastness of the sea, dozens of people, brimming with hope, place their trust in the darkness of the night to reach a safe port. From the port of Mina, in Tripoli, the barges don’t stop and they continue to set sail at dawn.




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