Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon Again Rally for Asylum in Canada

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon rallied again on Wednesday in Beirut’s Martyr Square reiterating asylum request in the North American country of Canada.

The protesters waved flags of Canada and the European Country asking to be granted asylum.

Last week, many Palestinians also gathered outside the Canadian Embassy in Beirut. They lamented the deteriorating economic and living conditions in Lebanon, which is going through a severe economic crisis, and said they wanted a more dignified life.

There are tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants in Lebanon. Most of them live in squalid camps with no access to public services, limited employment opportunities and no rights to ownership.

The periodic protests outside the embassy on the coastal highway north of Beirut began a few weeks ago, after a crackdown on undocumented foreign labor by Lebanese authorities, triggering protests inside some of the 12 camps spread across the country and in Beirut.

The protesters also decried what they say is widespread corruption at the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, is dealing with a budget crunch after an unprecedented loss of all funding from the United States, its largest donor.