People protested measures taken against unvaccinated people in Beirut on Saturday, saying individuals should have the freedom to choose whether or not to be immunized.
Lebanon doesn’t require vaccinations, but authorities have recently begun cracking down on those who aren’t immunized and don’t carry PCR tests that are negative.
About 300 people participated in a protest in downtown Beirut on Saturday, a day after 7,974 coronavirus cases were reported daily.
In the days following the protest, authorities imposed more restrictions, including that vaccination certificates and negative PCR tests were required to enter restaurants, hotels, and similar establishments.
On Monday, For civil servants to be able to work, they need to be vaccinated or undergo regular PCR tests. The severe economic crisis in Lebanon has resulted in a currency crash that means many civil servants cannot afford PCR tests.
On a banner carried by protesters, it read, “No to the dictatorship of vaccination.”.
Since discovering its first COVID-19 case in February 2020, Lebanon has registered more than 760,000 cases and 9,250 deaths, with a population of six million including one million Syrian refugees.
