Lebanese riot police on Saturday scuffled with students protesting against a decision by top universities to adopt a new dollar exchange rate to determine tuition fees – which equates to a major fee rise.
Protesters had gathered for a “Day of Student Anger” in front of the American University of Beirut, the largest by far in a series of demonstrations organised by independent student groups from across Lebanon.
They united forces earlier this month to fight a 160 per cent hike in fees and oppose a political elite they say is compromising their future, but further violence may undermine the momentum of their cause.
"We won't pay the tuition even if we have to drop out," Wissam Chahine, a 22-year-old student told The National. "How will we eat or pay rent?"
Student groups condemned heavy military and police presence as well as the use of violence against those who were attempting to protest inside the university.
“We are not against the army, but they’re attacking us. Our government is corrupt and we have many demands,” protester Nivine Khazaal, 18, said.
Footage of demosntrators attacking banks late on Saturday evening circulated online. Lebanese banks have become a target for protesters since last October after they banned depositors from accessing their accounts freely.
“When students wanted to enter the university to protest there, they were recurrently met with beatings and tear gas, indiscriminately used to punish them,” the AUB Secular club wrote in a statement.
“We hold the AUB administration fully responsible for what happened on the ground.”
AUB President Fadlo Khuri blamed the violence on “infiltration and deliberate disruption of what had been a peaceful demonstration,” in a statement released on Sunday, denying that the university had any role in directing security forces to crack down on the students.
Earlier this month the AUB, Lebanon’s foremost university, decided to price tuition fees at 3,900 Lebanese pounds or lira per dollar, as opposed to the largely abandoned official rate of 1,500 lira to the dollar, effectively multiplying fees by 2.6 for the Spring semester.
The Lebanese American University announced a similar hike shortly after and other universities are expected to follow suit. The new pricing is unaffordable for many Lebanese struggling to cope with the effects of an economic crisis that struck the country for the past year, pushing nearly half of the population below the poverty line.
The local currency has lost 80 per cent of its value on the black market, in part due to a shortage of foreign currencies in the country, diminishing the purchasing power of Lebanese.
Mr Khuri said the hike was necessary for the “financial survival of AUB” in a statement earlier this month. But student representatives say they have not been consulted on that decision and that many cannot afford the new fees.
Karim Saadeh, treasurer of AUB’s Student Faculty Committee says that if the hikes are allowed to pass, many young Lebanese will lose out on their education.
"If nothing changes 40 per cent, if not more, of all students will be unable to afford an education," he told The National last week at a student event. "We have to fight this as a unified front."
For decades, political life on campuses has been dominated by the sectarian parties that rule the country. But this year independent and secular candidates won an unprecedented number of seats in university elections, their victory bolstered by a mass protest movement that began last October against the ruling elite, deteriorating living conditions and for clean governance.
Karim Safieddine of Mada Network, a youth political advocacy group supporting independent student clubs, says protesters want to end tuition hikes and be involved in decisions that impact them in their universities.
“The end-goal is to reverse the decision of pricing tuition fees at 3,900 lira per dollar, and for students and administrators to be able to sit at the same table to discuss and openly negotiate the best solutions forward.”
The student groups will meet tomorrow to decide the next steps, but Mr Safieddine says the use of force in yesterday’s protest is a turning point for them.
“With the added element of militarisation and repression that we witnessed yesterday, there is going to be a different attitude from the student body.”
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4,872 matches
1,942 teams
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76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
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Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
India team for Sri Lanka series
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
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- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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When Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi
Known as The Lady of Arabic Song, Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi on November 28, 1971, as part of celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as Ruler of Abu Dhabi. A concert hall was constructed for the event on land that is now Al Nahyan Stadium, behind Al Wahda Mall. The audience were treated to many of Kulthum's most well-known songs as part of the sold-out show, including Aghadan Alqak and Enta Omri.
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
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Draw:
Group A: Egypt, DR Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Group B: Nigeria, Guinea, Madagascar, Burundi
Group C: Senegal, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania
Group D: Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Namibia
Group E: Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Angola
Group F: Cameroon, Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau
Sunday's games
Liverpool v West Ham United, 4.30pm (UAE)
Southampton v Burnley, 4.30pm
Arsenal v Manchester City, 7pm
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THE BIO
Favourite car: Koenigsegg Agera RS or Renault Trezor concept car.
Favourite book: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes or Red Notice by Bill Browder.
Biggest inspiration: My husband Nik. He really got me through a lot with his positivity.
Favourite holiday destination: Being at home in Australia, as I travel all over the world for work. It’s great to just hang out with my husband and family.
The%20Roundup
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Asia Cup Qualifier
Final
UAE v Hong Kong
Live on OSN Cricket HD. Coverage starts at 5.30am
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Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
South Africa World Cup squad
South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (w), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.
