Caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni has ordered 50 billion Lebanese Lira to be distributed to those affected by the Beirut port explosion, the state-run national news agency reported earlier on Tuesday.
The funds, which is about $5.7 million at the current black market exchange rate, will be allocated to the victims of the blast through the Higher Relief Committee.
This development comes after members of the riot police attacked families of the Beirut blast victims on Monday during their protest in front of the house of the investigative Judge Fadi Sawan in Beirut.
The protests were prompted by the judge’s failure to reply to a letter the group sent him, and in which they questioned why he hasn’t resumed the investigation into the blast after the political hurdle that brought the probe to a halt.
Upon summoning two ministers and the caretaker prime minister Hassan Diab back in December 2020, Judge Sawan came under intense attack by politicians, including the two charged ministers demanding his removal, citing violation of the constitution, as well as lack of transparency.
It wasn’t but until January 11th, about a month later, that Judge Sawan officially resumed his assigned task according to the decision of the Penal Cassation Court issued.
Since then, there have been no reported activities in the investigation. The families of the victims and the general population can’t fathom any excuse nor reason to the stalling of the probe and the silence around it since January 11th.
The families were compelled to take to the streets, again, to have their demands for justice heard.
Six months have passed since the Beirut Blast and there is little known on the officials behind Lebanon’s worst disaster to date.
While a financial grant from the government could bring the families and the wounded some material reliefs during this critical economic crisis, it is by no means a closure nor justice.
And justice they, and the people of Lebanon, do want above all.
