Protesters Rally in Airport as MEA Head Says He Sent Seagull 'Hunters'
Activists from the You Stink campaign and the civil society staged a protest Sunday inside Beirut's airport against the nearby Costa Brava garbage landfill and the manner in which Lebanese authorities have addressed the presence of seagulls threatening flight safety around the airport.
“We call for eliminating the main reason behind this crisis, which is the Costa Brava landfill,” You Stink activist Lucien Bourjeily said, referring to the seagull problem.
“For Flight Safety, Remove The Landfill”, read banners carried by the protesters.
Middle East Airlines chairman Mohammed al-Hout had on Saturday warned that “birds that gather on the tarmacs of Beirut's international airport pose a serious threat,” noting that “preserving passengers' safety is the priority.”
“I sent the hunters and we have to choose between MEA's birds (planes) and seagulls... Unfortunately, we are obliged to exterminate these birds,” Hout added, revealing that he was behind a controversial decision to send hunters to the airport's vicinity to gun down seagulls and other types of birds.
“The State will take measures in the near future,” he pointed out.
The decision to shoot down seagulls has angered environmentalist groups, which described the move on Saturday as an “extermination campaign.” The step has also sparked a storm of criticism on social networking websites.
The hunting of seagulls violates the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, environmentalists have warned.
On Friday, Transport and Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos announced after an emergency meeting that foreign experts have suggested the use of pyrotechnics, flare pistols, percussion bombs, auditory repellents and chemical repellents to keep birds away from the airport.
A judge had on Wednesday ordered the temporary closure of the Costa Brava rubbish dump near the airport "because of the presence of birds" attracted by the garbage.
Costa Brava was opened in March last year as one of three "temporary" tips intended to provide an interim solution after the closure of the main landfill receiving waste from Beirut.
The dumps were eventually intended to have waste processing facilities, but that has not happened.
As a result, garbage has piled up in Costa Brava, on the coastline close to the airport runways, reaching nine meters in some places.
Environmentalists have for months warned that the dump is attracting rodents and increasing numbers of birds.
In August, the Lebanese pilots' union warned of the possibility of the birds being sucked into airplane engines.
A permanent solution for the waste produced by Beirut and its surroundings has yet to be found, months after the Naameh landfill was shuttered.
The issue is one of many outstanding challenges for Lebanon's new government, which was formed on December 18 after two and a half years of political deadlock.
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