Strike starts, war continues

Press, 7 November 1987, Page 12

Strike starts, war continues

NZPA-Reuter Beirut An indefinite strike by 3.5 million Lebanese has paralysed their country. The strike is in protest at 12 years of civil war and worsening inflation.

But in troubled areas it was business as usual ... bombs, bullets and bazookas.

Three bombs went off in west Beirut and in south Lebanon near Sidon, three people were wounded in another round of clashes between Muslim militiamen and Palestinian guerrillas.

Amid Government inaction, Lebanon’s first general strike since 1952 entered its second day

today, with warnings of looming economic chaos and financial collapse. The stoppage began with protesters marching in Beirut and northern Lebanon chanting slogans for an end to “starvation and the civil war” while Syrian troops and Lebanese police mounted patrols to prevent any riots.

“Now it is a peaceful strike, but we don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” said Antoine Bechara, head of the 250,000 strong General Labour Federation (G.L.F.) which called the stoppage. Despite the strike, there

were no signs that the divided Government would meet to end a political deadlock among the warring factions and halt the country’s economic decline. President Amin Gemayel’s Government has been blamed for the worsening economy. Split along religious and political lines, his administration has been ineffectual in trying to shore up the Lebanese currency.

“The G.L.F. demands cannot be met by any Government, especially the Lebanese,” said a Western diplomat. Lebanon is now in the throes of financial col-

lapse. The Lebanese pound has plummeted, losing 82 per cent of its value against the United States dollar this year, and the Labour Federation puts the inflation rate at 350 per cent. In south Lebanon, the strike did not affect rival Shi’ite Amal militiamen and Palestinian guerrillas, who fought fierce battles with all kinds of weapons on hills east of Sidon, wounding three people, police said. They said three bombs also exploded in the deserted streets of Syriancontrolled west Beirut, wounding at least one person and causing damage.