In today’s Lebanon, fighting crime doesn’t normally mean going after the villains responsible for major corruption and theft, and the regular smuggling operations to Syria.
It’s more like fighting petty crime and shutting down someone’s only source of little income when it’s not considered technically legal.
That’s what the local authorities did on Wednesday when they tried to shut down the business of a street vendor selling corn on the cob on the corniche of Beirut.
Out of desperation and frustration, the vendor reacted by burning his food cart
With the collapse of the economy and the local currency, those who are suffering the most to make a few pounds a day are people like that vendor relying on a daily income to feed their families.
A day without work for the breadwinner could be a day without food on the family’s table. And yet, local police in Beirut’s corniche didn’t give that vendor a break, deeming that selling corn on the cob is a crime that must be stopped.
Meanwhile, the smuggling of subsidies to Syria is not getting the same due attention by the authorities.