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ECONOMIC CRISIS

Two injured as gunfight breaks out outside bakery in Tripoli

Two injured as gunfight breaks out outside bakery in Tripoli

A gunfight broke out outside of Ridani bakery in al-Beddawi, Tripoli, injuring two people. (Courtesy of Michel Hallak/L'Orient Today).

BEIRUT — Two people were wounded as a result of a gunfight over who gets a bread bundle first while waiting in a line in front of the Ridani bakery in al-Beddawi, Tripoli, our correspondent in the north of Lebanon, Michel Hallak, reported.

Here’s what we know:

    • The two injured people were bystanders waiting in line to buy a bread bundle amid Lebanon’s multifaceted crisis that has branched into a wheat crisis, when several people fighting over who gets bread first started shooting at each other.

    • Hallak told L’Orient Today that the injured are in a stable condition and were transferred to a nearby hospital. Security forces and army members arrived at the scene.

    • Long queues have been seen at bakeries throughout the country since Friday, one day before Eid al-Adha celebrations. Arabic bread bundles have been at the heart of a dispute between bakeries and caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam for several weeks.

    • Salam held a press conference Friday where he accused the dealers and wheat merchants of instigating wheat crises, saying that 45,000 tonnes of wheat entered the country last month, while Lebanon only needs 36,000 tonnes to produce Arabic bread.

    • Salam alleged that “some bakeries and some merchants personally benefit from the subsidized wheat,” and stated that a bread black market exists across Lebanon with packages of bread sold at more than double the official price. Salam said subsidized flour intended for Arabic bread was being diverted to sweets.

    • The Federation of Bakery Syndicates told the Economy Ministry, in a press conference it had held, that if the ministry did not approve authorizations for payments of flour deliveries before July 16, it would have to “take on the responsibility of supplying bread to the population.” The bakeries have also blamed the central bank for failing to pay for wheat import shipments.

BEIRUT — Two people were wounded as a result of a gunfight over who gets a bread bundle first while waiting in a line in front of the Ridani bakery in al-Beddawi, Tripoli, our correspondent in the north of Lebanon, Michel Hallak, reported.Here’s what we know:    • The two injured people were bystanders waiting in line to buy a bread bundle amid Lebanon’s multifaceted crisis that...