Beirut (agencies)
A number of families of the victims of the Beirut port explosion staged a sit-in yesterday, near the port, in rejection of the Cabinet’s decision to demolish the wheat silos, ignoring the calls of the victims’ families and organizations to turn them into a memorial.
A delegation from the Syndicate of Engineers accompanied the families of the victims of the Beirut port explosion, and William Noun, one of the victims’ families, said: “We are against the demolition. ».
“We agreed on the recommendations of a committee headed by the Minister of Justice and assigned the Council for Development and Reconstruction to supervise the demolition process,” Information Minister Ziad Makari told reporters, while reading the decisions of a cabinet meeting at the presidential palace.
The government’s decision, which was taken in the middle of last month, was based on a report prepared by the local Khatib and Alami engineering consultancy company, which stated, according to Makari, that the dilapidated silos could fall after a few months, explaining that maintaining them poses risks to public safety, while “restoring them will cost a lot.” ».
A committee on behalf of the victims’ families described the government’s decision as “unfair”, and a spokesman for the committee said: “We demand that this building remain as a memorial, witnessing the second or third largest explosion in the world, so that the tragedy will not be repeated.”
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