(17 Sep 2025)
LEBANON RETIREES PROTEST
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 2:07
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beirut, Lebanon – 17 September 2025
1. Various of tires set on fire blocking major highway during protest by retired Lebanese military officers
2. Black smoke rising
3. Protester blocking highway with burning tire
4. Lebanese security personnel and protesters, smoke rising in the background
5. Various of tires on fire, smoke rising
6. Protesters and Lebanese security personnel
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Chamel Rokouz, retired military officer, former member of parliament:
"We have rights and we are here to try to attain our rights. We are looking for a state that believes in giving people their rightful dues, as it should. (Reporter asking: If you they don’t give you your rights, what will you do today?) All this will continue. We will act today, we will act tomorrow, we will act the day after, and we will act next week. Everything will continues in order to restore our rights the way they should be restored."
8. Various of retired soldiers holding Lebanese flags marching toward the prime minister’s office in central Beirut
9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abed Karim Abed, Lebanese army retiree:
"As a retiree, I get $320 (a month), and there are those who receive $260 per month. What can they do? The lowest salaries are the salaries of military personnel, whether they are retired or in active duty. Soldiers receive the lowest salary. I’m seeing people in active duty collecting plastic (to get by), guys. I saw with my own eyes a soldier collecting plastic. Is that acceptable? That is a soldier in active duty? Is that acceptable?"
10. Various of retired Lebanese soldiers standing in front of Lebanese army units
11. Retired Lebanese soldiers banging on wall the metal door
12. Pan from Lebanese army to retired soldiers
STORYLINE:
Retired Lebanese army officers blocked major thoroughfares in Beirut on Wednesday, demanding a better pay as the Lebanese continue to feel the pressures of the country’s economic crisis.
They gathered outside the prime minister’s office in the Lebanese capital and set fire to tires to block roads to the city center.
"We have rights and we are here to try to attain our rights. We are looking for a state that believes in giving people their rightful dues," said Chamel Rokouz, a retired military officer and former member of parliament.
The protest comes as Lebanon grapples with the impact of an economic meltdown that began in late 2019.
Retired soldiers have been protesting for several months to demand higher pay after their salaries lost their value following the crash of the Lebanese pound since the economic crisis began.
"The lowest salaries are the salaries of military personnel, whether they are retired or in active duty," said Abed Karim Abed, a Lebanese army retiree.
The World Bank has said that poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million.
Lebanon’s economic crisis is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by a political class that has ruled the country since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
AP video shot by Fadi Tawil and Mahammad Aounti
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