Many activists have been sharing photos since Thursday of excavations works currently happening at Beirut’s last public beach in Ramlet El Bayda but nobody was able to explain their purpose yet.
Over the last couple of years there has been a lot of talk about the area being a private property and that a resort will be built there by Achour Development. However, right before the previous municipal council’s term ended last spring, it was announced that the municipality of Beirut will be claiming back the beach and surrounding land in order to keep it accessible to the public. News about the whole thing then eventually stopped circulating until these photos started surfacing online.
Knowing that the “Byeirteh” list’s promise when they were elected was to keep Beirut for its people, I hope they were considering Ramlet El Bayda a part of the capital when they made their promise back then.
In all cases, I tried to reach both of Ziad Chbib (Beirut governor) and Jamal Itani (Beirut mayor) to know the purpose of these excavation works and will definitely post an update if they reply to me.
Photos via Lama Karamé and Joelle Boutros.
What’s the latest on this?