Before the voting process began in yesterday's 11th presidential electoral session in Parliament, several MPs inside the Parliament held up photos of the victims of the 2020 port blast, expressing their solidarity with the victims and their families. (Credit: Mohamad Yassin / L'Orient Today)
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Parliament remained undecided on the next head of state after its 11th presidential electoral session; meanwhile, relatives of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port blast victims held a protest outside the Parliament building. Forces of Change MPs Melhem Khalaf and Najat Saliba remained in Parliament after the session was adjourned to protest the “obstructionist policy that is being implemented in the country.” The MPs’ protest gained traction later in the day, evidenced by a twitter post by MP Halimé El Kaakour showing Khalaf, Saliba, Paula Yacoubian and Cynthia Zarazir, as well as Kaakour herself, inside the Parliament chamber, in the dark. The session, as others before it, ended after a first round of voting resulted in a majority of blank votes and spoiled ballots cast against votes for Zgharta MP Michel Moawad. Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered outside Parliament to protest the obstruction of the port blast probe — paralyzed amid judicial vacancies preventing rulings from be issued on complaints against lead investigator Judge Tarek Bitar — and to call on MPs to sign a petition to ratify texts which would allow the resumption of the investigation and guarantee judicial independence. A smaller group of victims’ relatives against Bitar’s handling of the case also protested outside Parliament, calling for the release of around 15 detainees held since the immediate aftermath of the explosion.
The lira fell to a new all-time low on the parallel market, passing the threshold of LL50,000 to the dollar and widening the gap with Banque du Liban’s Sayrafa exchange platform rate and leading to a spike in fuel prices. The latest depreciation weakens the lira on the parallel market by LL12,000 over the Sayrafa rate, which was raised by BDL last month to LL38,000 after a similar plunge in the national currency’s value. The drop follows a brief period in which the lira regained value on the parallel market after central bank interventions, including a raised ceiling on the amount of dollars depositors can purchase from banks at the Sayrafa rate. The prices of 95- and 98-octane gasoline and diesel, set regularly by the Energy Ministry since subsidies were lifted in summer 2021, rose by more than LL25,000 each. Protesters decried the lira’s depreciation across Lebanon, blocking roads in the Qasqas neighborhood of Beirut late in the day and in Abra, South Lebanon.
Workers erased some of the portraits of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port blast victims painted in the capital’s city center, citing upcoming renovation works. Local artist Brady the Black commemorated the victims of the tragedy through a mural of portraits in the wake of the blast, some of which were removed several months ago. The property on which the memorial was drawn commissioned their removal ahead of renovations, workmen removing the portraits told L’Orient Today.
Cabinet announced in a statement published on Wednesday evening the conditional approval of two additional payments aiming to offer a temporary solution to Lebanon’s worsening electricity crisis pending an okay from a recently formed ministerial committee. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati initially announced the approval of two requests to finance fuel imports bound for Lebanon’s two largest power plants and power plant maintenance after a Wednesday cabinet meeting. A follow-up statement, however, detailed the conditional approval of additional payments covering fuel imports bound for other power plants and an advance to cover fuel payments for a transitional period while awaiting the collection of newly increased electricity tariffs. In addition to approving the additional payments, the 12-minister committee is tasked with monitoring state electricity utility Electricité du Liban’s reports on its expenses, bill collection and production progress.
A retrospective on French-Lebanese war reporter, filmmaker and visual artist Jocelyne Saab is scheduled to launch today in the “Second Encounter” film festival co-organized by Cinematheque Beirut and Association Jocelyne Saab. The Second Encounter opens this evening at the Institut Français with a projection of the 1971 detective thriller, The Choice, directed by Youssef Chahine from a script co-written with Egyptian Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz. The screenings offer a space “where we can think about these films, and stage talks about what it means to restore them and to show them today,” Cinematheque Beirut manager Nour Ouayda, who programmed the festival, told L’Orient Today.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from yesterday: “With the crisis here to stay, Lebanon’s restaurants dollarize menus”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz