Demonstrators Storm Jeb Jennine Power Plant Demanding More Hours of Electricity
Residents of the Bekaa region Jeb Jennine stormed on Monday the local power plant demanding more hours of electricity, said Electricite du Liban in a statement.
It said that residents gathered outside the station at 8:00 a.m. and demanded that they be granted entry to the plant’s main control room.
The worker on shift refused and the protesters threatened to break the door down.
The army soon intervened to ease the tensions, but one resident managed to slip into the premises and open the power plant’s main gate, allowing the demonstrators to enter the building.
Power at the plant was soon cut off as a safety precaution until the protesters left the building.
The army succeeded in persuading the residents to leave the building and power was returned.
The EDL statement added that the power supply in Lebanon will improve gradually starting at the end of this week.
It stressed that the current demand on the network exceeds its capacity, especially during the hot summer months, which is forcing it to increase its hours of rationing.
It hoped “citizens would maintain the calm and refrain from resorting to violence, which will only damage the company’s establishments and definitely not improve the power feed.”
The state-owned firm reiterated on Tuesday that Lebanon will continue to suffer from a 1,000 megawatt shortage but will seek to distribute electricity fairly on all Lebanese regions except for Beirut which is a special case.
Protests and strikes were held by angry residents across Lebanon on Wednesday for a third straight day to protest severe power cuts during the scorching heat of the summer season.
In Beirut’s Tayyouneh district, the angry protestors blocked the Shatila road with burning tires. It was reopened several hours later.
The coastal road of the southern city of Tyre was also blocked. But the security forces and the Civil Defense Department reopened it.
Angry residents also blocked the Halba-Qobayyat road in northern Lebanon.
Similar protests were also held on Monday and Tuesday across Lebanon which has been suffering from a blackout following a malfunction in the Deir Ammar power plant.
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