Lebanese protest against new rent law in Beirut

Tenants briefly blocked a road in Beirut with burning tires Wednesday after previous protests failed to convince authorities to revoke a controversial rent law. The rally was held in the Mathaf area, causing heavy traffic. In January, Parliament endorsed a rent law that would incrementally increase fees for tenants on historic leases, many of whom pay less than $700 per year. Following the end of the Civil War in 1990, rental rates were frozen in an attempt to minimize inflation. The new law would potentially affect 200,000 apartments. The Committee to Protect Tenants’ Rights, an advocacy group, is demanding that President Michel Aoun refer the law back to Parliament for further debate. “The vast majority of tenants were incapable of paying the rent increase that the law stipulates,” Castro Abdallah, the head of the committee, said at the event as he read an open letter to Aoun.