“The situation is tragic,” Ahmad Halabi, a protester in Beirut, told Al-Monitor Sept. 29. “The dollar is limited, gasoline is cut-off for us, there’s no water at home, there’s no food,” said Halabi.
Earlier that day, several hundred Beirutis had taken to the streets of Lebanon’s capital city, and many of them, like Halabi, had been motivated to take action by the shortage of dollars in the country’s banking system, threats of a backslide in the value of the Lebanese pound, and nationwide gas station strikes that took place in response. Although these issues were the immediate triggers of the protests — which at times turned violent — demonstrators demanded change to deeper, more systemic issues like Lebanon’s broadening economic crisis, the corruption of the political elite, and even the country’s sectarian system of government.
