Senior Hezbollah Official:

Hezbollah has a duty to defend people’s rights

Rasa – Hujjat al-Islam Da’moush has stressed that defending the rights of the Lebanese people is one of the duties of Hezbollah.

News ID: 428243

Date: 20 March 2017 - 10:41

RNA – Speaking at a ceremony marking the birth anniversary of Lady Fatimah al-Zahra held at Martyr Sayyid Abbas al-Mousawi Hall, Hujjat al-Islam Ali Da’moush. the vice-president of the Executive Council of Hezbollah in Lebanon, said: “In addition to standing against the dangers of the Zionist regime and the Takfiri phenomenon, we in Hezbollah must also defend the rights of the people and on this basis, we demand an increase in the wages of the workers and employees in different sectors.”

He added that based on developments and protests across Lebanon over the past two days, it’s quite apparent that some groups are seeking to prevent this issue from achieving its intended aims and some movements also support the actions of the government.

Hujjat al-Islam Da’moush stressed that Hezbollah is making every effort to increase the rights of the people, especially the poor, and won’t allow tax money to be taken from the pockets of the poor.

The senior member of the Islamic Resistance said that it’s not permissible that the poor bear the consequences of the increase in the salaries of workers and employees and cause them to suffer because salary increases can be achieved in various ways other than through taxation.

Hujjat al-Islam Da’moush added that the fight against financial corruption and the prevention of the waste of public funds can compensate for the increased costs of the increase in wages for workers and employees and there is no need to increase taxes.

On Sunday, thousands of people took to the streets in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, to protest against plans by the government to increase taxes.

The planned hikes, proposed for Lebanon’s next annual budget, have sparked several small-scale protests in Beirut and other cities over the past days. The protesters say the hikes would unfairly affect the working class, urging the government to concentrate on fighting corruption rather than filling its coffers with taxpayers’ money.

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