Rejecting the policy of reducing services provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to the Palestinian refugees residents of the Burj al-Shamali refugee camp in Tire southern Lebanon organized a protest vigil on Monday.
Dozens of young men women and representatives of Palestinian institutions from the camp’s residents participated in the vigil in front of the UNRWA office in the camp. They raised banners calling on the International Agency to declare a state of emergency to collect funds to ensure consistent services for the Palestinian refugees without any reduction in any aspect.
A member of the Follow-up Committee of Palestinian Institutions operating in the Burj al-Shamali camp Samar Mohammed said that the vigil is to affirm that “we stand firm and demand our rights.”
She revealed that “the vigils will continue until a number of demands are achieved foremost of which is declaring a state of emergency and providing urgent relief correcting the course of the medical program raising UNRWA budged allocated for Lebanon in addition to building a secondary school in the camp.”
For his part Mahmoud Taha the political official of the Hamas Movement in the camp urged UNRWA to launch fund-raising campaigns. He also called for more protests in all refugee camps in Lebanon.
174422 Palestinian refugees live in 12 camps and 156 gatherings in the five governorates of Lebanon according to figures from the Lebanese Central Statistics Department for 2017.