On January 24, 2025, multiple media outlets reported on a campaign of eviction and demolition, met by resident protest, carried out by the Burj al-Barajneh municipality, in coordination with the Lebanese Army and security forces, targeting a number of informal commercial shops. The municipality announced the operation on its Facebook page as a warning against encroachments on public property after the war period. However, our review of property records showed that the shops were built on two plots of land registered as private property, revealing a significant contradiction between the municipality’s claims and the legal reality of the land. Instead of the operation being merely an enforcement procedure to protect public property, this move may indicate attempts to exert greater control over informal economic activities in the area. The authority/municipality’s adherence to the concept of regulation as a priority and its approach to the city as a space and practice from a purely legal perspective is a complete abandonment of its responsibility to serve the interests of the most marginalized groups, care for them, and ensure that their basic rights, from access to essential goods to obtaining work, are adequately secured.
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