UCC: Our protests are nothing but a 'prelude' to Beirut’s central demonstration

The Union Coordination Committee (UCC) announced Monday that the protests held today and the ones due to be held on Tuesday are “nothing but a prelude for Beirut’s central demonstration” which will kick off on Wednesday at 11 am from al-Barbir Square all the way to the Grand Serail.     

In its meeting, the UCC called on the students’ parents in both the public and private sectors to refrain from sending their children to private schools as per the open-ended strike. The committee’s members urged the parents to stand by them and support their cause.
   
Meanwhile, the Committee decided to hold a sit-in at 10 am tomorrow outside the Ministry of Economy in addition to a protest all the way to the Ministry of Telecommunications.     

Today’s sit-in kicked off from al-Sanayeh region all the way to the Lebanese Central Bank in Hamra where a large number of protestors rallied in protest of the cabinet’s failure to refer the ranks and salaries scale to Parliament.      

In this context, the president of the School Teachers Union Nehme Mahfoud said that the UCC is keen on the country's stability and security pointing out that “a committee will be formed to close the schools that did not abide with today’s strike”.              

Throughout his speech, Mahfoud said that “the battle of the series of ranks and salaries is with the government and not with schools’ administrations”.              

It is worth noting that LAF and ISF members enforced tight security measures around the ministries of Information, Tourism, and Interior.                     

This as, various schools in Lebanon closed their doors Monday although security forces assured on Sunday evening that appropriate security measures will be taken in order to prevent any forceful participation in the strike.            

In this context, public educational and administrative sectors in Tyre refrained from doing their administrative work and a number of schools closed their doors in compliance with the decision of the private school teachers association.                   

In Jbeil, the demonstration of private and public schools’ teachers kicked off outside the Serail of Jbeil.             

In Zahle, ISF members were deployed across the el-Manara roundabout in order to ensure the security of the public sector workers who are calling for the referral of the series of ranks and salaries to the parliament.


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