Fuel and gasoline deliveries to gas stations across Lebanon resumed Tuesday morning after Customs partially suspended a strike against the government’s planned austerity budget, the state-run National News Agency reported.
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Employees involved in importing and distributing fuel and gasoline have ended their strike, Customs head Badri Daher told The Daily Star, adding that the remainder of Customs employees would return to work “soon.”
Fadi Abu Shakra, a consultant for the Syndicate of Gas Station Owners, had warned Monday of a potential “fuel crisis” and called on Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil to “intervene and solve the problem as soon as possible,” according to local media. “Oil importing companies cannot receive fuel if they do not pay the required amount to Customs,” he said.
People were seen rushing to gas stations Monday as worries of nationwide gas shortages grew.
The Customs strike, which began last Friday, is one of the many protest measures that have been taken by public sector workers against the passage of any austerity measures in the budget that would affect their wages or benefits.
Employees of a number of regional government centers across the country were also on strike Tuesday, along with some judges and legal assistants, the state-run National News Agency reported.
A nationwide strike Monday also included public and private school teachers, many of whom joined a demonstration in the capital attended by hundreds of striking state workers and military veterans.
