Gharib: "Money whales" responsible for port smuggling and rampant theft

        
The Union Coordination Committee (UCC) staged on Thursday a sit-in for the 24th consecutive day near the Beirut port, heading toward  Zaytunay Bay in Down Town Beirut where the protesters were prevented from entering by security forces but were later allowed entry following negotiations.

The demonstrations were not only limited to Beirut, as protesters in al-Zahrani, Zahle, Sawfar, Hermel and Tripoli held demonstrations in solidarity with the UCC in hopes of exerting further pressure on the government to refer the ranks and salaries series to Parliament for ratification.        

Demonstrators cut off the international highway in Sawfar causing a severe traffic jam, while others blocked the Zahle-Baalbeck International road which was reopened later on by the Internal Security Forces.         

In this context, Head of the UCC Hanna Gharib delivered a fiery speech whereby he condemned what he called "money whales" who are supporting port smuggling, stressing that those who smuggle via the port and if subjected to proper monitoring can supply the apt finance for the series of ranks and salaries.        

"By allowing them to get away with it, they are allowing them to steal the State's treasury."      

He called on all Ministers to settle the funding issue before the 21st of March or otherwise witness “a UCC spring par excellence”.        

The Union Coordinating Committee launched its open ended strike on February 19th 2013 after making repeated called on Prime Minister Mikati to validate the new salary scale and consequently refer it to Parliament for ratification.