Suicides spark outrage at Lebanon govt

BEIRUT: Two suicides in Lebanon on Friday, apparently linked to the country’s deepening economic downturn, have sparked a new wave of criticism over the government’s mishandling of the crisis. A 61-year-old man from the eastern region of Hermel shot himself on the sidewalk of a bustling Beirut shopping street in broad daylight.

Near his body was a Lebanese flag, a copy of his clean judicial record and a note in Arabic that read: “I’m not a heretic”. It was a quote from a popular song that continues with the words “but hunger is heresy”. A relative of the man, who asked not to be named, accused the country’s rulers for the hardship that led to his death. “God damn them. People are suffocating.” As he spoke, rescue workers carried the body away in a white coffin and a man mopped up a pool of blood.

The Lebanese pound, officially pegged at 1,507 pounds to the greenback, reached more than 9,000 to the dollar this week on the black market in a dizzying devaluation. Prices have soared almost as fast as the exchange rate has plummeted, meaning that a salary of one million pounds is now worth a little more than $100, compared with almost $700 last year.

The suicide sparked small protests in the Hamra district, denouncing the government for its inaction over the country’s worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. “He did not commit suicide, he was killed in cold blood,” read one sign, blaming the government. Saba Mroue, a protestor, said: “the political class is responsible”.

— AFP BEIRUT: A demonstrator carries a placard which reads “Don’t blame a sinner in the time of sin, for hunger is the father of all sin” during a gathering to denounce the death of a man who committed suicide in the capital’s Hamra Street on Friday.