Civil servants demonstrating in front of the Serail in Tripoli, North Lebanon, June 17, 2022. (Courtesy of Michel Hallak)
BEIRUT —Public administration employees and retired police officers held a sit-in Friday morning, blocking the road in front of the Serail in Tripoli to demand an increase in their salaries and retirement pensions.
Here’s what we know:
• They protested against the sharp decrease in the purchasing power of their salaries, paid in Lebanese lira, which has lost more than 90 percent of its value since the beginning of the economic crisis in October 2019.
• "We have waited too long, stop the humiliation," said Ibrahim Nahal, one of the protesters, L’Orient Today’s Tripoli correspondent reported. "We constantly hear promises but no real action is taken," he continued, “all employees live below the poverty line, as does 80 percent of the Lebanese population.”
• A preliminary agreement has been reached between the government and the International Monetary Fund, which allocates $3 billion over four years. The monetary institution has provided a detailed action plan listing all the reforms required for this aid to be effectively released.