Lebanon shaken by another suicide
Paralysed by 50 days of strikes, the country watches powerless as one suicide follows the other. Support initiatives for the unemployed and the desperate by those who can still help are multiplying. So is looting. Some stories are made up to get money via social media.
Beirut (AsiaNews) – Less than four days after a 40-year-old man from Arsal committed suicide, another man, from the outskirts of Beirut, took his own life yesterday. Dany Abi Haydar, a 41-year-old father of three, shot himself in the temple with a hunting rifle in front of his parents.
Dany lived in Nabaa, a place known as "the Bronx of Beirut", on the eastern edge of the capital. Despite growing up in one of the poorest parts of the country, Dany was one of the luckiest in his neighbourhood. He worked for a lighting company, with a steady salary that allowed him to earn up to 2 million Lebanese pounds (US$ 1,325) a month with overtime.
Dany's father spoke to AsiaNews what happened. "He was the father of three children, but eight months ago he lost his job and was no longer able to pay the rent. He moved with his family to our home, along with his brother. But his debts with the supermarket for food alone exceeded three million pounds. Moreover, at work they started talking about layoffs.”
Yesterday Dany went to work as usual, but he returned at 10.30 am and took the hunting rifle. His father asked him if he intended to go hunting and he said yes. The time it took him to turn around that his son shot himself and fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Addressing protesters, he said: “What do you still want? You paralysed the country for 50 days, you brought us to this. Do you want blood? More blood?”
His unemployed brother is on the verge of a breakdown and is unable to say anything, whilst his mother, who smeared her face with her son’s blood, can’t believe it: “Why did you take your own life? You believed, you prayed, you fasted, you didn't hurt anyone, you didn't speak ill of anyone”. His employer said he had not been laid off.
Last night a large protest started in the Christian area on the road from the Church of St Elijah in Antelias to Jal el Dib. There were so many people that the road was blocked. In Jal el Dib three coffins were laid down on the square.
Two days ago, pictures appeared of Halima Mualem, an unemployed woman threatened with eviction for non-payment of the rent and the only breadwinner for her mother and son, both ill. She was holding a sign in downtown Beirut saying "Kidney for sale: cheap price". A social media campaign raised enough money to stop her eviction.
Solidarity via social media has opened the door to chicanery as well. Yesterday evening, a video was posted showing a boy trying to set himself on fire saved at the last moment by his friends. Later, it turned out to be fake to get help from people. Police detained those involved.
This morning an elderly man unable to buy his medicine threatened to commit suicide. When the press arrived, the Health Ministry promised him free medicines next Monday.
Other positive initiatives include a supermarket that put up a sign at its entrance that read: "Dear customers, if you cannot pay but you're hungry, take what you need without paying. We accept donations from better-off customers.”
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16/08/2021 14:54
05/10/2017 14:44
