Issue Brief on “Demonstrations in Lebanon: Between Poverty and The Pandemic”

1991

Since October 2019, Lebanese citizens have been demonstrating against the government denouncing them for dishonesty and misconduct. The country has been immersed in an economic crisis even before the coronavirus pandemic. In early March 2020, the Lebanese government announced that it would be defaulting on its debts. [1]

The country is facing multipronged, interconnected challenges in the form of monetary, economic and fiscal challenges. These have resulted in increasing unemployment as well as affected import of crucial items such as medical supplies. The arrival of COVID-19 is further devastating the economy to a point where on March 21, the army had to be deployed to enforce lockdown since shop owners kept their outlets open in a desperate attempt to keep their businesses running.

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