Sexual assault laws protest, dollar pricing, pharmacists’ syndicate elections: Everything you need to know to start your Monday

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Protesters held a sit-in outside Parliament on Saturday demanding stronger legal measures against sexual assault. “Strengthen the sentences!” protesters chanted, while others held signs calling for “a punishment commensurate with the crime.” Resource center for gender equality Abaad director Guida Inati announced that the organization was coordinating with parliamentary blocs to amend the penal code so that it protects more effectively the victims and survivors of such aggressions. In a Friday publication, Abaad claimed sexual abuse in Lebanon was mostly under-reported, with more than half of victims avoiding legal measures to protect their families’ “honor.” The majority of women surveyed in the report believed sexual assault to be an attack on the honor of the family.

An oil spill off the Abdeh-Akkar port yesterday “polluted [fisherpeople’s] nets and threatened the remaining fish population,” a local piscator said. A leak in the area’s disused Iraqi oil pipeline reportedly caused the spill, endangering marine life and prompting calls from residents for “radical solutions.” Despite repeated calls from residents to address the issue and reports of maintenance work to the pipeline by the Tripoli Oil Installations, leaks repeatedly pose risks to the area’s inhabitants and their livelihoods, such as fires or the flooding of neighboring agricultural land. Tripoli Oil Installations head Hadi al-Houssami in September 2021, claimed the leaks were caused by damage to the pipeline from attempts to siphon crude oil left inside to maintain the structure’s quality. The impact of the oil leak on the area’s biodiversity depends on the depth of the spill and whether it comes into contact with sealife inhabited rocks, Balamand University Institute of Environmental Studies director Manal Nader told L’Orient-Le Jour after a similar spill caused a fire in November 2020.

Caretaker Tourism Minister Walid Nassar on Friday extended a circular allowing tourism establishments to display their prices in dollars ahead of an anticipated visitor-heavy holiday season. The Tourism Ministry initially issued a circular in June allowing explicit pricing in dollars until the end of September provided that the invoice is printed in Lebanese lira and paid in either currency. Association of Travel & Tourist Agents in Lebanon president Jean Abboud earlier this month said he expected flights to Lebanon during the end-of-year period to be fully booked, drawing comparisons to the summer season, which attracted more than 1 million visitors and some $4.5 million in revenue. Abboud also anticipated “a significant increase in Arab and foreign tourists” compared to Lebanese expatriates. The influx of visitors is seen as a boon to a tourism sector badly damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion and a prolonged economic crisis.

A murder in the South Lebanon town of Aktanit stirred anti-refugee sentiment as residents on Sunday demanded the expulsion of displaced Syrians from the area. The army announced the arrest of two Syrian nationals on Sunday for allegedly stabbing to death a young Aktanit resident. The area’s residents responded to the arrest’s announcement by calling for Syrian refugees residing in Aktanit to leave, L’Orient Today’s correspondent in South Lebanon reported. Many municipalities in Lebanon practice discriminatory measures against Syrian residents and several serious incidents have illustrated the extent of anti-Syrian rhetoric. Bsharri residents drove out some 270 Syrian refugee families in November 2020 after a Syrian worker was accused of killing a local resident. The following month, a group responded to an altercation involving a Syrian worker in Bhanin, North Lebanon by burning down an informal camp, leaving 370 people without shelter.

Eleven public schools in Saida yesterday scheduled a strike for today to protest “difficult economic circumstances,” citing teachers’ inability to commute to work. Public school teachers have repeatedly protested to demand higher wages to match soaring prices amid Lebanon’s third year of economic collapse. A study published by the Center for Lebanese Studies at the Lebanese American University claimed that factoring the cost of public educators’ commute into their salaries left them with $3 in their pockets each month. While the Education Ministry announced the first curriculum update in nearly 25 years last week, the start of the school year for public institutions came riddled with worries from faculty and students’ parents alike.

A joint Future Movement and Lebanese Forces list claimed the entirety of seats in the pharmacists' syndicate elections. The syndicate congratulated the winning candidates: Simona Sabbat, Mary Ghossoub, Raed Sabsabi, Vera Haidar and Bahia Fadel. Syndicate head Joe Salloum added that the list had his support along with that of the Kataeb and the Progressive Socialist Party. The same four-party alliance claimed a similar victory during the Beirut Bar Association elections last Sunday. Traditional parties are apparently making a comeback after losing syndicate representation to popular protest movement affiliated candidates during the previous elections.

In case you missed it, here's our must-read story from this weekend: “Arab spectators use World Cup coverage to make their opinions heard”

Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz