Wed 29 April 2020:
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) unjustifiably used excessive, including lethal, force against protesters in Tripoli on April 27, 2020, killing one protester and injuring scores more, Human Rights Watch said. The army has expressed its “regret” about the protester’s death and said it has opened an investigation into the incident.
“Tripoli is one of the most impoverished cities in the country, and the Lebanese government has failed to guarantee people’s right of access to food and other basic necessities,” said Aya Majzoub, Lebanon and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The army’s unjustified use of lethal force has further enflamed the situation and cost the life of one young man who was demanding his rights.”
Lebanon has been going through the worst economic crisis in decades, compounded by lockdown measures to stem the spread of Covid-19. The value of the Lebanese lira has plummeted and fueling inflation, which the Finance Ministry estimated will reach 27 percent in 2020. Banks have restricted the dollars people may withdraw or transfer abroad from their accounts. Earlier in April, Human Rights Watch warned that more than half of Lebanon’s population may be at risk of hunger if the government does not urgently carry out a robust assistance plan.
Tripoli is Lebanon’s second-most-populous city and one of the poorest in the country. The World Bank estimated in 2017 that 53 percent of working age Tripoli residents were unemployed.
Human Rights Watch interviewed four protesters who witnessed the violence on April 27, 2020 and one journalist who documented the clashes and reviewed footage of the events. Human Rights Watch cannot independently verify the accounts or the footage.
The witnesses said that hundreds of protesters – including women, children, and the elderly – gathered at Nour Square in Tripoli around 9 p.m., after the evening Ramadan prayers. They planned to march to parliament members’ homes to protest the desperate economic situation, which they said has caused many Tripoli residents to go hungry.
“People demanding to live in dignity should expect protection, not lethal force, from Lebanon’s army,” Majzoub said. “The death of a protester should prompt the army to re-evaluate its security strategy and operations, as well as strengthen its accountability systems.”
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