Photo by: AFP

Lina Abu Ziki, a 35-year-old hairdresser, said she turned up at work "because I am not with the opposition... What they are doing is more detrimental to us than the economic situation."

Barbed wire and security forces in riot gear were placed in front of the Central Bank in Beirut where a protest march was to have taken place. The demonstration, however, was called off by the General Confederation of Labour Union (CGTL) after it became clear that only few demonstrators were able to make their way to the meeting point in central Beirut.

Sanaa Hatem, a widowed mother of four, paced in front of her women's boutique on Hamra. "I am against the strike and against Hezbollah's methods that have left the country without any tourism, but I don't dare open my shop," she said. "If they damage it, who will compensate me?"

The strike was called for by the CGTL to force the government to raise the monthly minimum wage which has been unchanged since 1996. Although the cabinet on Tuesday agreed to a 130-dollar increase a month to 330 dollars, the GCTL said it was nowhere near enough. The union is demanding that the minimum wage be increased to 600 dollars but the government has balked at such a raise, and Finance Minister Jihad Azour has warned it could lead to rampant inflation. Majdi Qobeissi, 26, a doorman at a local money exchange, said he decided to join the strike although his boss threatened to slash his daily wage in half if he didn't show up. "What I make is not enough for me to make ends meet, so what if I want to start a family?" he said as he walked down the commercial Hamra street not far from the Central Bank.
(AFP)