Demonstrators gather in front of the Port of Tripoli on Wednesday. (Credit: Michel Hallak/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Dozens of people demonstrated on Wednesday in front of the Port of Tripoli to demand security forces accelerate their search for the missing victims of a migrant boat shipwreck that occurred Saturday night off the coast of Tripoli.
Here’s what we know:
• On Wednesday morning, the Tripoli-Beirut highway was blocked in both directions by a group of demonstrators also calling for the acceleration of searches for the victims. The protesters blocked the road with trucks and called on “all the residents of Tripoli and the North to take to the streets” with them, our correspondent in the region reported.
• One of the relatives of the victims, Abu Taymour al-Dandachi, said from the Port of Tripoli that his family has “no problem with the army” but “with the political class in power, which looted the country, impoverished the population and led us to collapse, and made our loved ones want to flee to a country where they can live in dignity.” He also said he has a problem with “the officer responsible for the murder of our relatives,” in reference to the Lebanese Army commander who some of the relatives of the victims blame for the sinking of the ship. Several people from the Dandachi family, including Abu Taymour's brother, were on board the boat that sank and at least two were among the victims. “However, we do not want to talk to any politician,” he added.
• On Tuesday, cabinet instructed the Military Court to investigate the sinking of the boat.
• Another man from the Dandachi family, who survived the shipwreck, said that “the remains of my children are still in the boat which sank.” He also called for the authorities to collect them so that he can bury them. “We will continue our mobilization until the boat is recovered and with it our wives and children,” he said.
• Earlier in the day, protesters blocked the highway between Tripoli and Beirut in both directions. The lanes of the main road had been cut by trucks, according to L’Orient Today’s correspondent in North Lebanon. The Civil Defense teams continued, for the fourth consecutive day, their search operations at the sea and on the coast, between Akkar and Beirut. No remains have so far been recovered on Wednesday
• Around 30 people remain missing following the sinking of the migrant boat off Qalamoun, south of Tripoli. Seven people have so far been confirmed dead in the tragedy, according to our correspondent.