BEIRUT: Truck drivers observing an open-ended strike that disrupted work at the Beirut Port were expected to suspend their protest to allow the government to find a solution to the row over the filling of the port’s fourth basin, the education minister said Tuesday.
Minister Elias Bou Saab made the remark after attending a meeting in Bkirki during which he briefed the Maronite clergy on progress to resolve the filling issue, which is strongly opposed to by Christian political parties.
“There is no consensus between politicians on filling the fourth basin,” Bou Saab said, refuting contradictory allegations.
“But we have sensed positive and deep concern by Prime Minister Tammam Salam about finding a suitable solution,” he said, adding that the matter should be discussed in Wednesday's cabinet meeting.
Bou Saab said truck drivers were largely responsive to a plea to suspend the strike Tuesday in order to give Salam leeway to discuss the matter with port officials and take the appropriate decision.
“We thank those who responded positively to the strike suspension as a goodwill gesture, as we are not amateurs of road blocking or disrupting people’s work,” Bou Saab, whose Free Patriotic Movement party is staunchly opposed to the basin’s filling, said.
Asked about the reason behind holding the meeting at the seat of the Maronite church, Bou Saab contended that the matter is of great concern to Christian parties and Bkirki was the best representative of Christians in the absence of a president, in reference to the top Maronite Christian post.
The decision by port authorities to resume work in the fourth basin prompted a syndicate of truck drivers to launch an open-ended strike Monday, in a bid to pressure the government into permanently halting the controversial project that critics say could jeopardize 1,500 jobs.
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