Future Movement rejects decision to relocate displaced people within Beirut and warns of “impending chaos”

The Future Movement issued the following statement:

“The Future Movement denounces the haphazard decision being celebrated to move the displaced from Beirut’s waterfront to land belonging to the capital’s municipality just meters away from the current location, under the claim that it was ‘carried out through the efforts of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and in coordination with the governor, the municipality, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Interior.’

It is clear that this decision came as a result of those who made it yielding to political and partisan agendas that insist on defying the decisions of the Lebanese state and preventing the transfer of the displaced from the waterfront to the approved shelter centers, particularly the Camille Chamoun Sports City. This places full responsibility for its repercussions, and for any additional chaos that may result from it, on Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, the Beirut governor and municipality, and the ministries concerned, foremost among them the Ministries of Interior and Social Affairs, after all warnings and calls to adopt balanced and well-considered solutions that safeguard the interests of Beirut and its residents while also respecting the dignity of the displaced were ignored.

While the Future Movement categorically rejects turning any area in Beirut into a new fait accompli imposed on its residents, making them pay the price for the randomness and confusion in managing this file, it also stresses that the displaced have a right to decent and organized shelter centers provided by the state, and that it is the state’s national and humanitarian duty to secure them. It therefore calls on the displaced to respond to the ongoing efforts to move them to the Sports City shelter center, in a way that provides the minimum humanitarian conditions and puts an end to the continued handling of this issue with a patchwork mentality, reactive measures, and political exploitation.”