These scenes summarize the situation of the Lebanese citizen in various regions of the country, from the far north to the far south, amid altercations between the citizens and the owners of the bakeries, due to the lack of bread.
The bakeries were unable to secure bread because the bakeries ran out of flour, which means that the crisis continues despite the assurances of the Minister of Economy and Trade in the caretaker government, Amin Salam, amid information about delays in solutions due to the strike of public sector employees in the Ministry of Agriculture.
This morning, Wednesday, the city of Jounieh woke up to a dead man who was run over on the coastal road while heading to a bakery, and his photos spread on social media pages amid angry comments about the situation.
government promise
For his part, the Minister of Agriculture in the caretaker government, Abbas Hajj Hassan, revealed to “Sky News Arabia” that 30,000 tons of wheat will be delivered to the mills and is intended for the current week, saying that there is absolutely no delay in examining wheat samples at the ministry.
Hajj Hassan denounced what is happening at the doors of the bakeries of queues, humiliation of citizens, and conflict with hands, describing it as “illogical, sad and disturbing.”
The Lebanese official said, “We, as the Ministry of Agriculture, do our full duty and do not delay the necessary examination of the validity of imported wheat despite the strike of public sector employees, and our employees are doing their work to the fullest, and what promotes a delay in the ministry’s work is untrue rumors.”
He concluded by saying, “The wheat crisis in Lebanon is a crisis of importing the material from abroad, and there is a delay in importing, which the Ministry of Economy is asking about.”
Ministerial reassurance
Despite the reassurance of the Minister of Economy in the caretaker government, Amin Salam, that there are sufficient quantities of flour and wheat, this does not translate into reality. On the contrary, the situation is getting worse day by day, and more bakeries are closing their doors to citizens.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Economy confirmed to local media that “if a decision is taken to lift the subsidy, the price of a bundle of bread will range between 30,000 and 35,000 Lebanese pounds.”
He revealed that “the agreement with the World Bank provides for the lifting of subsidies on flour, and that this step will be taken after nine months, when poor families will be able to obtain bread through ration cards.”
With regard to the current crisis, Salam indicated that 50,000 tons of wheat will enter Lebanon within ten days, sufficient for a month and a half, and will be subject to the Ministry of Agriculture’s examinations. “Production must be expedited so that a crisis does not occur in the country,” noting that “a committee was formed Managed by the Ministry of Economy to regulate the arrival of wheat to the port and then to the mills, and with the help of all agencies to follow up the arrival of wheat to the bakeries.
And bakeries in Lebanon turned into wrestling arenas, from arguing about the priority of obtaining a bundle of bread to tangling hands and beating with sticks and stones, to shootings on Tuesday evening, leaving a number of wounded.
The horrific scenes moved from one bakery to another, which prompted the unions of bakeries and bakeries to request security protection for the bakeries that are working and witnessing queues in front of them.
Black market for bread!
As is customary in Lebanon, a black market soon appeared, in which a bundle of 820 grams of bread was sold at a price ranging from 25,000 to 30,000 pounds, instead of 13,000 pounds as set by the Ministry of Economy.
The owner of a bakery in the southern city of Sidon told Sky News Arabia, “Every official blames the other party, and most of them agree to point the finger unfairly at the Syrian refugees, accusing them of being the main cause of the crisis and one of the most beneficiaries of the funds allocated to subsidize the flour.”
On Thursday, most supermarkets in Beirut and Tripoli witnessed a heavy demand by citizens to buy biscuits and cakes instead of bread, after losing it more than two days ago in most food stores.
#Queues #shootings.. #Lebanons #bakeries #turn #areas #violence