Supporters of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) during their mobilization in Hamra Street, Beirut, after the tragic shipwreck that killed at least 94 people off Syria, September 25, 2022. (Credit: L'Orient Today/Mohammad el-Chamaa)
BEIRUT — Supporters of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party paid tribute Sunday to the victims of the sinking of an illegal migrant boat that departed Lebanon last Thursday and which has left at least 100 dead. The tribute came during the party's annual parade in the streets of Beirut.
Hamra Street, in a shopping district of Beirut, was closed by dozens of supporters who set up rows of chairs, according to L’Orient Today’s reporter on site. Many shopkeepers complained about the closure of the street, which "harms businesses and scares customers."
The main ceremony was held near the premises of the café Wimpy, now a business. It was there that Khaled Awan, a young member of the SSNP, then aged 19, killed an Israeli soldier and wounded two others on Sept. 24, 1982.
The SSNP's communications officer, Maan Hamiyeh, said in a statement "all the condolences of the party to the relatives of the victims of the shipwreck of one of the 'death boats,'" referring to a ship that departed from Lebanon before capsizing off the coast os the Syrian port city of Tartus on Thursday. Published on Sunday, the text blames the tragedy on "imperialist and colonizing forces that besiege our country and on the merchants of blood and crisis, which push those who can not afford to emigrate [to do so] illegally." The statement finally praised the efforts of the Syrian Red Crescent in rescuing some of those aboard the vessel and recovering dozens of bodies of the shipwreck's victims.
Syrian officials estimate that more than 100 bodies have been found since the shipwreck, according to the latest provisional assessment. According to Damascus authorities, about 150 people, mainly Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian refugees, were on board the boat.
Additional reporting by Mohamad El Chamaa.