Introduction to the evening news 18-10-2012

Today’s strike will not be the last. The Syndicate Coordination Committee set the date for another strike later this month if the cabinet does not refer the series of ranks and salaries to Parliament. While PM Najib Mikati denies any procrastination attempt, unionists accuse the cabinet of dragging its feet and looking for funding sources that would empty the series from its content.  

However, teachers and public servants were not the only ones to claim their rights today. Journalists who were banned from joining their Unions raised the voice and were faced with the Education Ministry’s decision preventing them from entering the UNESCO building to hold their press conference.  

Meanwhile, racist attacks on Syrian workers in Lebanon are on the rise. The residents of Ramlet al Bayda woke up to a tragedy that almost turned into a massacre; over 20 young men assaulted a group of Syrian construction workers using knives, machetes and batons, as if the tragedies of Syrians inside Syria were not enough. Carine Konin Abu Zeid, member of the international investigation committee on Syria, talked to LBCI about this incident, holding the Syrian government fully responsible for it.  

In his report on UNSCR 1559 made available to LBCI, Ban Ki-Moon voiced his concern over the content of reports about Hezbollah’s activity in Syria and its negative repercussions on the self-distancing policy adopted by the Lebanese government.