BEIRUT: A group of men and women in Beirut's southern Ouzai neighborhood Monday prevented Internal Security Forces personnel from halting illegal construction as part of the ISF crackdown on construction violations.
The ISF were trying to stop work by laborers hired by Sheikh Khodr Abou Sharara at the construction site, located in the Tall area, according to the police report. The incident was later reported to the general prosecutor's office.
Earlier this month, the military prosecutor charged a dozen people, under article 381 of the penal code, for “violently” resisting the police campaign targeting illegal construction on public property in the Beirut southern suburb of Ouzai and along the highway to Rafik Hariri International Airport.
The rise in the number of illegal constructions on public property and violent resistance from residents to their removal has sparked controversy as the ISF continue to fine and stop building violations.
Between April 29 and May 5, the ISF in cooperation with a Lebanese Army unit demolished 130 illegal buildings situated on public and private property, the ISF said in a statement in early May, in which it pledged to demolish all public and private property violations.