Lebanese Students Protest Tuition Hikes

Date: 20 December 2020 - 21:09

News ID: ۸۵۶۶۲

BEIRUT (Dispatches) – Lebanese police have scuffled with student protesters angered by a decision from top universities for a major tuition hike.
Near the entrance of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the city’s Hamra district, security forces formed a human shield barrier on Saturday to prevent the students from approaching the gate.
Students responded by throwing water bottles and other objects at riot police blocking their path.
The protest came in response to a decision by AUB and the Lebanese American University (LAU), another top private institution, to price tuition based on an exchange rate of 3,900 Lebanese pounds to the dollar.
The decision would raise tuition fees by almost 160 percent.
The nosediving currency is still officially pegged to Lebanon’s 23-year-old official rate of 1,500 Lebanese pounds per dollar.
The move has prompted fears that other universities could follow suit, potentially leading to an exodus of students from private schools while public universities remain underfunded and overstretched.
In the evening, some torched dumpsters to block the street and vandalized banks, before security forces pushed them out.
Over the past year, the Lebanese pound has lost up to 80 percent of its value on the black market, where on Saturday the dollar was selling for at least 8,200 pounds.
Universities have struggled to adapt to the de facto devaluation as prices nationwide soared.
Commercial banks halted dollar transactions and restricted withdrawals of Lebanese pounds, in moves that have starved many of their savings.
The country’s deep financial crisis is exacerbated by the COVID pandemic and aftermath of the massive Beirut port blast in August, which wrecked large parts of the city, killing 200 and injuring more than 6,000 people.