The Lebanese cabinet reportedly decided on Wednesday to have the wheat silos of Beirut’s port demolished.
The Lebanese authorities previously said that there is no need to preserve the remaining of silos because of the “risk of collapse”.
The families of the victims of the Beirut port explosion have previously organized many sit-ins and criticized this move, which they see as an attempt to “erase the still not-known truth.”
In February, the Economy and Trade Minister, Amin Salam, announced his decision to demolish the grain silos inside the Beirut port and choose a company to carry out the project.
For the families of the victims, the silos represent a still-standing witness to the gruesome and still unsolved massive crime of the Beirut Blast.
For the people, these silos in their current state also stand as an empowering symbol of resistance to corruption and negligence, standing with their wounds against all odds, and having “acted” as a shield that had spared the western part of Beirut and its residents.
In their unhealed trauma and griefs, the people feel closely connected to these silos and don’t want to let them go.
Paul Naggear, the father of the youngest victim of the Beirut Blast, Alexandra Naggear, commented that the Lebanese authorities intend to “erase landmarks” and “destroy memories” after every crime to let no one demand accountability.“
Experts from Amann Engineering, a Swiss company, recommended that the silos be demolished to avoid a “complete collapse of the structure”, calling it an “unstable and moving structure.”
“As much as the structure can be iconic, facts do show there is no way to ensure safety on even the medium term with the north block remaining as is,” the company wrote in its report.
With so many killed by the blast, people don’t want the silos gone until justice is served.
