Yammouneh Rises: Hashish is Our Livelihood

[reorg]

Source: Al-Akhbar

By: Rameh Hamieh
Published Saturday, August 4, 2012

Clashes erupted yesterday in the town of Yammouneh in the Bekaa valley between local hashish farmers and security forces. The farmers in the largely marginalized region are fiercely defending their crops as they are their only source of income.

Security forces charged with destroying hashish crops in Baalbak-Hermel in the northern Bekaa had another rough day. So did the residents of the town of Yammouneh.

The townspeople stayed in their homes from early in the morning following violent clashes between hash farmers and the eradication force.

Hash farmers decided to “defend their livelihoods” using all necessary means, including light and medium weapons. “We will continue the confrontation until they stop destroying,” they say.

Read more: http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/yammouneh-rises-hashish-our-livelihood

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Hanna, a resident of a village in west Baalbek, says the responsibility “falls on the shoulders of the Lebanese state and some of its security agencies.”

He accuses these agencies of intimating to farmers that “no one will touch the hashish. Then they scouted the planted areas, took pictures of them from airplanes, and sent them to international institutions to collect funds in order to destroy them.”

...

The areas planted with cannabis in Baalbek-Hermel cover more than 150,000 acres, based on unofficial numbers collected by the security forces.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-hashish-growers-and-government-face

Leave Hashish Alone!

[madrchsod]

1. hashish..a gift from the gods!

ahhhh...those were the days of good hashish and ojs.........

[alfredo]

2. They take away their livelihood, then berate them for their poverty.

[patrice]

3. Security agencies? How is this a security issue? Or is it just mercenaries? or a turf battle??? nt

[Trillo]

4. Seems like the nosey neighbor is money, once again.

A written statement distributed last Thursday evening in a number of villages in west Baalbek warned that the farmers “will deal with the owners of agricultural tractors and hired workers as enemies, because they are conspiring against people from their area for a little bit of money.”