“Tripoli, the city of peace“, reads graffiti in the main square of this city in northern Lebanon. In the middle of Ramadan, the hustle and bustle of the streets does not stop at their feet. fire burning inside several containers trying to block access to the roundabout. Families celebrate impromptu funerals while some youths confront the military and tear down election posters. Others still hope that sea spit out corpses they. More than 60 people suffered shipwreck It was reported that his boat’s quest for a better life was hindered by the Lebanese navy while leaving the Lebanese coast. for now, seven people died.
Anger quickly flared up. The poorest city in the Mediterranean. The Lebanese Prime Minister, billionaire Najib Mikati, comes from Tripoli. A banner in front of the President’s $100 million boat reads, “The owner of this yacht is being killed by the people of Tripoli.” On a much smaller boat with only capacity six peopleThe crowd was about 60 people on a Saturday night. They went to the shores of Europe. The closest is on the island. Cyprus233 kilometers from Tripoli.
According to survivors, Lebanese navy He attempted to stop the ship that crashed into him and sank. Then, an hour and a half later, the Lebanese Army came to their rescue. But it’s too late. The ship and its passengers were sinking. while search and rescue operation the warrior people of Tripoli, who have grown against time, duel. Just hours after the tragedy, a group of residents attacked an Army outpost in the city and opened fire in the air. stone to soldiers. They responded by shooting into the air, the sound mixed with the bullets from the corpses.
“Suffering for Centuries”
“Since the shipwreck, shooting has almost stopped, I can hear it right now,” he says. Ziad al-Zayyat from Tripoli. “If Government and Army officials don’t take responsibility for what happened and stop denying it as they do in their official statements, serious problemsThe newspaper of the same group called Prensa Ibérica adds this as this newspaper for El Periódico de Catalunya. The poverty level in this northern city was already alarming before the economic crisis that started in 2019. “They live with fewer people now, more than a dollar a day,” says young Tripoli. There is nothing to loseits citizens throw themselves into the sea or those who stay on land take to the streets today. anger. Practical desperation.
Until a few years ago, those who went on death barges were Syrian refugees. Now the economic collapse has democratized the country. suffering until it reaches Lebanon. In Tripoli, a city historically abandoned by the authorities, the situation has always been worse. “We are all sad and angry, not just the relatives of the dead or missing, but everyone is suffering here as in the rest of Lebanon,” Ziad said. “Even though the people here have suffered for centuries, poverty “This causes them to risk their lives to reach Europe.”
general elections
Next May 15 General elections will be held in Lebanon. these first elections After the economic crisis, the mass protests and tragic fall of 2019 explosion On August 4, 2020, more than 200 lives were taken in the port of Beirut. During the protests in Tripoli, the youth expressed their anger by tearing up the election posters with the faces of the youth. millionaire candidates. Tensions escalated on the southern border with Israel after a rocket was fired over the fighting in Jerusalem as the search for a handful of missing people continued. The Israeli Army responded with artillery fire.
Lebanese spend their days trying to survive and calculating how to get to a place where they can live with dignity. “These people are trying to imitate the road that allows some Syrian refugees to reach Europe. they have hope“, explains Al Zayyad, “but the problem is that the Lebanese we are not considered refugees We are going through all these crises,” he said. In the face of the vastness of the sea, dozens of hopeful people rely on the darkness of night to reach a safe port. From Mina port in Tripoli, barges don’t stop and they continue to sail at dawn.
Source: Informacion
