REPORT: UCC postpones official exams, cuts off road at al-Adliyeh roundabout

The head of the Union Coordination Committee (UCC), Hanna Gharib, announced that official state exams will be delayed for as long as the strike lasts, holding the government responsible for all ensuing damages.   

During a sit-in held by the committee outside the VAT building on Wednesday, Gharib, announced that it will hold a protest outside a different ministry every day, adding that it will hold tomorrow’s sit-in outside the Ministry of Education and form a follow-up committee.   

Gharib stressed that the committee will go on with its open strike, adding “there will be no VAT so long as the ranks and salaries scale is not referred to Parliament.”    

In turn, the head of the private school teachers association Nehme Mahfoud stressed that while the ranks and salaries scale is a right for everyone, the strike is a “sacred right”, adding “we will not leave the street before our plight is met.”     

“The minister of finance revealed that inspection machines at Beirut Port were deliberately left in shambles,” Mahfoud added, pointing out that by putting an end to smuggling at the port, the cabinet would be able to fund the ranks and salaries scales threefold.