Taxi drivers block roads in Saida on Saturday. (Credit: Mountasser Abdallah/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Taxi drivers blocked the Nejmeh Square road in Saida on Saturday morning to protest fuel price increases and the detrimental impact it has had on their work, L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the area reports.
Here’s what we know:
• Protesters also blocked the Riad al-Solh road in the city, causing congestion on other routes, and barred entries to markets.
• The protesters emphasized the deterioration of their living and working conditions amid the socio-economic crisis Lebanon has been facing since 2019. “The state should turn to us. Our work has been stopped because of the increase in fuel prices,” a protester told L’Orient Today, adding that “a taxi fare is now LL40,000. People, being unable to afford it, have stopped taking taxis and our work has stopped.”
• Recently, fuel prices, set by the Energy Ministry, have repeatedly increased. Now, 20 liters of gasoline cost more than LL600,000, or more than $20 at the parallel market rate.