Internet shutdowns hit cash-strapped Lebanon due to strike

By AP 31 August 2022, 4:13 pm

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A bank customer bangs on a metal walls of a bank as army soldiers stand guard near Lebanon's parliament during a protest against a capital controls draft law protesters said would further restrict their trapped savings in the banks, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Internet shutdowns have rippled through cash-strapped Lebanon since yesterday after employees of the country’s state-owned telecom company went on strike, demanding higher wages.

It is the latest reflection of one of the world’s worst economic disasters, which has pulled three quarters of Lebanon’s 6 million people into poverty. The Lebanese pound in three years has lost over 90 percent of its value against the US dollar.

Employees of Ogero and other public sector institutions have not had their wages adjusted to accommodate the pound’s depreciation and skyrocketing inflation.

“Unfortunately at my level there is very little to do,” Ogero Chairman Imad Kreidieh tells The Associated Press. “Ogero does not have the funds to deal with the matter.”

Kreidieh added that the issue is Lebanon’s parliament and caretaker government’s to resolve.

According to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency, internet shutdowns have hit several towns across the country, including in several neighborhoods of Beirut.

Caretaker Telecommunications Minister Johnny Corm does not immediately respond to the AP when asked if the government is working to resolve the internet shutdowns.

Legislator Paula Yacoubian tells the AP that Parliament’s telecommunications committee will meet Monday next week to discuss the issue.