Men push over pastries in the Moussa bakery, in the Bekaa on July 26, 2022. (Credit: Screen capture of a photo sent by our correspondent Sarah Abdallah)
BEIRUT — Protests erupted Tuesday in Bekaa and Baalbeck amid worsening bread, water and electricity crises, with a group of men vandalizing a bakery in one Bekaa town.
Here’s what we know:
• A group of young men raided and vandalized a bakery in the Bekaa town Taalabaya in protest against the hoarding of bread, our correspondent in the area reported. According to a video sent by our correspondent, a man violently pushed one of the workers of the Moussa bakery and entered by force before shouting and throwing pastries displayed on a table at the entrance. Another man also entered and vandalized pastry stands. The Lebanese army deployed to the scene to restore order.
• Baalbek residents meanwhile burned tires in Nasser Square in Baalbek to protest a decline in their living conditions as their electricity and water supplies were cut, and bakeries suffered bread shortages.
• The bread crisis has become an increasingly pressing issue across Lebanon in the past several months, and particularly since one day prior to Eid al-Adha, when long queues formed outside bakeries due to the limited number of Arabic bread bundles available.
Additional reporting by Sarah Abdallah.