By Aaron Miller-
Lebanese lawmakers were sprayed with disinfectant as they filed through parliament wearing face masks at the UNESCO Palace theatre, The Eye Of Media.Com has heard.
The staggered three-day session is the first by the Beirut parliament since Lebanon imposed a lockdown more than a month ago to limit the spread of the virus and after meetings that were scheduled last month were postponed. The amusing was brought to the attention of this publication from contacts at Nasdaq.com who said ”you don’t want to miss this one”. It remains to be scene whether such comical scenes will be witnessed at the parliaments of advanced nations when they resume.
The novel coronavirus has infected at least 677 people and killed 21 in Lebanon. Dozens of laws are at the heart of the agenda of today’s session, including fighting corruption in the country’s public sector, a controversial draft about general amnesty, restoring looted public funds, and allowing the plantation of cannabis for medical use
MPs met at Beirut theater so that parliament members can observe social distancing measures imposed over the coronavirus pandemic. The session is expected to witness heated disputes in light of “political campaigns” noted in the past few days between affiliates of the ruling authority and the government on one part, and opposition parties not participating in the government on another.
Opposition parties including Progressive Socialist Party, al-Mustaqbal Movement, the Lebanese Forces party, and independent MPs like Paula Yaacoubian have criticized the government’s economic rescue plan. Anti-government demonstrators meanwhile, also obeyed the health safety measures — driving around the city in their cars to protest the country’s spiraling economic and political crisis.
As lawmakers wearing face masks arrived at the UNESCO Palace theater, white uniformed paramedics sprayed them with disinfectant before they filed in one at a time through the gate. Hundreds of protesters drove around Beirut in cars in a show of rejection for the political leadership that they blame for the crisis roiling the country.
Lebanon is facing its worst economic crisis in decades, with unemployment figures soaring and the local currency losing more than half of its value against the dollar. Protests broke out nationwide in October against government corruption, further deepening the economic slump.
Over the past months, the protests lost some of their momentum and were subsequently interrupted by the outbreak or the pandemic. Activists, however, said they were resuming the movement but would protest inside their cars, in line with safety measures. Some of the protesters wore masks with Lebanon’s red and white flag with a green cedar tree.
“We are here to tell them that the revolution will stay, the revolution will not die,” said Hassan Makahal, a protester. “We are going back to the streets and stronger than before.”
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, where more than 20 staff at the presidential palace have tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, a spokesman said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his wife Rula have both tested negative.
Presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi tweeted on Tuesday that Ghani, who is 70 and a cancer survivor, and his wife had both requested the test. “The President is healthy and is leading government efforts on all fronts. All precautions are in place to make sure his work environment is safe and healthy,” he tweeted.
Afghanistan has confirmed 1,092 cases of the virus, with 36 deaths so far, but testing has been sporadic and there are widespread concerns an explosion of COVID-19 would overwhelm the country’s war-ravaged health system. More than 200,000 Afghans had returned from Iran — the region’s epicenter of the virus — since the beginning of the year. The returnees were not quarantined but dispersed after crossing the border to travel to their hometowns across the country.