On July 24, 2024, Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud approved the proposal of the Beirut Municipality Parks Department to close Horsh Beirut and only allow visitors who obtain prior permission from the governor, for reasons related to recurring incidents such as thefts and attacks on facilities, the large number of visitors that increases the occurrence of damage, and the implementation of a project to create a bicycle path, rehabilitate bathrooms, and plant seedlings (funded by UNOPS).
The closure decision is a dangerous event, as it takes us back years, to before 2015 when Horsh Beirut was opened after a long struggle by several community and civil society groups. Today, this illegal closure is nothing but a confirmation of the state’s systematic and permanent failure to open, manage, and guard municipal parks and enhance their role as public spaces open to all residents of the city.
Read the full Field watch in Arabic.
