A number of young activists headed to the region of Minaa’ al-Hosn where a port they spent months protecting from demolition was located. Despite their calls, landlords started digging in order to build high-rise buildings.              

Activists contacted the Internal Security Forces and asked them to come to the site and stop what they called “a crime against the country”. They also forced the contractors to freeze their works for a short period of time.           

The head of “Save Beirut Heritage” association Pascale Ingea voiced her discontent with what is happening, saying “it is as if Solidere’s massacres were not enough for the capital”.  

For his part, attorney Giorgio Tarraf of Save Beirut Heritage told the story of how engineers prevented their access to the works site and did not allow them to check if works were legal.  

In this regard, Culture Minister Gaby Layoun told LBCI that “the ministry removed the property from the Public Inventory List, which means that it is no longer a site that should be protected”. Layoun added that the fact that the company in charge of the works was not informed of this issue confirms that there is a violation.”        

The activists decided to hold a protest on Thursday outside the Culture Ministry building to defend what they insist on calling a “Phoenician port”.