Gas Workers Block Ouzai Highway to Protest Shut Down
The workers of the centers for filling gas canisters in Beirut's southern suburbs, which were ordered to shut down, blocked on Tuesday the Ouzai highway with burning tires.
The Traffic Management Center said security forces diverted traffic towards the Airport road for a few minutes before the highway was reopened.
The workers have expressed fears that they would become unemployed.
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq visited on Monday the centers, one in Bir Hassan and the other in Ouzai, to oversee the temporary shut down.
Al-Mashnouq ordered the centers to be shut until their supply of gas runs out after security forces received information that they could be targeted by terrorists.
“Our measures come in the framework of the residents' safety until we are capable to provide better security measures to control such acts,” he said in a statement on Saturday.
Ghobairi's municipal chief defended al-Mashnouq's decision on Tuesday, telling Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) that the interior minister is assessing the security situation in the region and the dangers of any Takfiri attack.
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