Lebanon: Restaurant, Pub Owners Protest Smoking Ban

Source from:  The Daily Star  11/08/2012

Hundreds of restaurant and pub owners briefly blocked Wednesday Beirut's Sodeco road leading to Ashrafieh to protest a smoking ban that went into effect in September.
 
The protestors, who launched their demonstration at 10 a.m., said they would not adhere to the indoor smoking ban, citing the effect on their businesses as a result of the ban.

  

The police managed to reopen the road about an hour later after negotiating with the demonstrators.
 
During the protest, the demonstrators held a mock coffin with the word tourism written on it, in a sign of their mourning over the deteriorating key sector.
 
The Association of Restaurant Owners said earlier this week it would hold a sit-in to press the government to amend the smoking ban.
 
The secretary-general of the association, Toni al-Rami, said that the "traditional ways” of protest and visits to officials had failed to achieve the required amendment to the law.
 
On the day Law 174 went into effect in early September, several restaurants and cafes shut down in protest while the hospitality association has on numerous occasions called for amendments to the ban to allow smoking in pubs and nargileh cafes.
 
Tourism associations have also demanded that the government amend the smoking ban, saying the sector has been burdened with heavy losses as a result.
 
Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra has submitted a proposal to amend Law 174 in a way that would grant restaurants and hotels the choice to partition their venue into smoking and non-smoking sections.
 
Other MPS from the Kataeb Party like Nadim Gemayel and Samer Saadeh have also proposed amendments to the law. Enditem