Hezbollah supporters burn rubber tires to protest power rationing

 

Hezbollah supporters burned rubber tires to protest the power rationing by the Lebanese electricity Company ( EDL) in the Hezbollah-controlled suburb south of Lebanon’ s capital Beirut on Monday evening, police reported.
 
According to the police report the move was apparently “spontaneous”

 

The Lebanese electricity Company ( EDL) issued a statement earlier in the day notifying citizens of a series of failures that have led to separating power stations from the main network, enforcing a general power failure.

The statement, however, pledged that repair works are underway and power distribution would return to normal soon.

 

After one hour of violence , the Lebanese security forces and military troops dispersed them and restored order.

 

George Maalouf, an energy analysts told Ya Libnan: The irony in all this is that neither Hezbollah nor Amal supporters pay for the electricity in Lebanon. Electricity fee collectors are scared to go to the Hezbollah controlled areas for fear for their lives . Many collectors were killed in the past when they attempted to collect the electricity charges in the Hezbollah and Amal dominated areas of Lebanon.”

 

Despite the high charges that law abiding citizens of Lebanon have to pay for electricity , EDL is excessively subsidized to cover the short fall caused by the refusal of Hezbollah supporters to pay their share . This subsidy is a major burden on the Lebanese treasury , since Lebanon is a heavily indebted nation . Lebanon’s debt exceeds 185 % of the GNP.

 

This is not the first time Hezbollah resorts to this type of violence .

 

In January of this year Hezbollah and General Michel Aoun supporters blocked the airport road and burnt several tires .

 

Here are some more pictures courtesy of Reuters photographers