Veterans Block Major Roads in Beirut over Wage Scale Demands

Armed Forces Veterans blocked several major roads in Beirut on Monday in a bid to pressure President Michel Aoun not to sign the wage scale file and related taxes that were referred to him through parliament last month.

A spokesman for the National Commission of the Armed Forces Veterans, Sami al-Rammah, voiced calls on Aoun “not to sign the wage scale file but to include his remarks and return it back to the parliament.”

The protesters believe that the wage scale, as approved, does no serve them justice. They refuse installed payments for pensioners.

Early in the morning, the protestors blocked major roads in and around Beirut including Port of Beirut, major commercial hub the Hamra street near the Central Bank of Lebanon.

The protestors banned BDL employees from joining their offices and blocked the bank's several entrances.

They also prevented the Customs employees at Port of Beirut from entering into the facility.

On the other hand, the Syndicate Coordination Committee also held a sit-in in Downtown Beirut demanding publishing the wage scale law in the official gazette.

The campaigners' move comes in line with an economic dialogue meeting set to be held at the Presidential Palace in Baabda at Aoun's request.

The President has called for the dialogue meeting to discuss the various points of dispute and disagreement over the recently approved salary scale bill and the new batch of taxes to fund said scale.

The dialogue meeting will be attended by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, concerned ministers, Central Bank Governor, and representatives of the economic, labor and financial institutions, as well as free professions, private schools and teachers Syndicates' heads.