Fresh Protests as Dollar Reportedly Reaches LBP 7,500 on Black Market

Lebanese citizens staged fresh road-blocking protests on Friday, as media reports said the U.S. dollar was selling for LBP 7,500 on the black market.

The army struggled to reopen the vital Jiye highway which links Beirut to the South. It eventually managed to reopen by force in the afternoon after removing parked vehicles and pushing away protesters who came from the adjacent town of Barja.

The National News Agency said some protesters had blocked the highway with trucks after tearing up the tires and taking away the keys.

TV networks said some protesters had hurled stones at passing vehicles, prompting the army to intervene.

In the North, protesters blocked the Tripoli-Akkar highway in the Bab al-Tabbaneh area with burning tires and trash bins. Others meanwhile blocked the el-Mina-Beirut highway with rocks and obstacles in protest at “the rise in the dollar exchange rate, the hike in the prices of commodities and the dire living conditions,” NNA said.

Taxi drivers meanwhile blocked the Elia intersection in Sidon, where they parked their cars in the middle of the road.