BEIRUT: Police dismantled illegal kiosks and booths set up across Tripoli’s Qibbeh neighborhood Tuesday, as the Internal Security Forces continues its sweeping campaign against unlicensed coffee and snack stands in the northern city.
A force led by the commander of Tripoli’s police unit fanned out in Qibbeh early Tuesday, removing all unlicensed booths.
“The campaign will continue until the city returns to the ranks of high end cities” North Lebanon Governor Ramzi Nahra said after touring several Tripoli neighborhoods alongside the commander of Tripoli’s police unit, Brig. Bassam Ayoubi.
Ayoubi said that the police’s next target would be the embattled Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood after kiosks were removed from Tripoli’s waterfront Mina neighborhood, Jabal Mohsen and the city’s Old Souks.
According to Nahra, the campaign will be complete in a matter of weeks.
The crackdown on unlicensed vendors serves the interests of Tripoli residents, investors as well as the owners of legitimate and official businesses, Nahra said.
Last month, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said that the coffee and snack stands that were shut earlier this month by police were removed to make way for new kiosks that could be rented out by the vendors.
Rifi’s comments came after police dismantled illegal kiosks and booths lining the seaside promenade in Tripoli’s waterfront Mina neighborhood, triggering protests by owners who burned tires briefly blocking the coastal way.
Tripoli’s economic hardships have been highlighted ever since the Army clashed with jihadists in the city more than two months ago, causing massive material damage including the complete destruction of some buildings. Officials have warned that high rates of unemployment and poverty are pushing youths in the city toward religious fundamentalism and militancy. While the government has announced an economic development plan to accompany the security plan, the city’s residents say nothing has materialized.
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