Blog
Myriam Dalal

Green Party Files Lawsuit to Reclaim Public Beachfront Properties

Last Tuesday, the Green Party of Lebanon filed a lawsuit in an attempt to reclaim damaged or unlawfully occupied public property in Beirut’s marina.

Any public beachfront property that has been invested in or land-filled without having been licensed, or that has surpassed its original license, is now up for investigation.

The General’s prosecution’s office of Beirut transferred the lawsuit to the public prosecution appeal on Friday. This, in legal terms, means that an investigation order will next be conducted by the jurist law enforcement department.

The Green Party of Lebanon is hoping that this step will prevent further violations of public marine properties.

Though the charges weren’t filed against specific individuals or companies, Carlo Julian, the Green Party’s spokesperson, tells Beirut.com the reasons behind the decision to file.

“We all know the companies and the individuals that are violating the marine properties, but we’d rather list it as Anonymous only to force the government to conduct investigations.”

While the lawsuit was formally filed against ‘Anonymous,’ Al-Akhbar newspaper, in a series of eight reports published in December 2012, cited 1141 projects currently trespassing on public property, including those of Saad Elhariri, Nabih Berri, Mosbah El Ahdab, Youssef Kanaan and Roger Edde, to name a few.

As for beach resorts, hotels and other investment projects, Al-Akhbar listed Movenpick resort, Riviera and the Sporting Club in Beirut as violators, among others.

Al-Akhbar’s report was based on one previously filed by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to the Minister’s Council in 2012; and stated that neither Solidere’s waterfront nor Biel’s properties were listed.

Macha’a, the Movement to reclaim Public Property, told Beirut.com that the idea of launching a lawsuit has been circulating in the Green Party of Lebanon’s office for more than two years now.

Macha’a are currently organizing events taking direct action at reclaiming the seashore this summer, saying:

“We surely back any lawsuit that is filed against occupants of public spaces, but we believe that direct action is more likely to have an actual effect on the ground or give a result rather than waiting for our corrupted juridical system to do something about it. A lawsuit can sit there for years in their drawers, and we can’t afford to wait anymore.”