Hundreds of security forces came out in full force Tuesday, zeroing in on a couple of hundred mini-bus owners and their families who had been camping out on Bank Street near Parliament in protest of a diesel ban that would affect some 4,000 vehicles. Dozens were arrested and a number were seen being beaten with rifle butts.
Protesters had been camping out on Martyrs Square since Saturday, moving to Bank Street and effectively shutting it down Tuesday. Mini-bus owners feel they have been singled out from among 200,000 diesel-powered vehicles by a government decision claiming to curb air pollution.
The fashionable downtown area, a known tourist trap, turned into a riot zone when mini-bus owners, drivers and their families received news that Parliament had decided not to revoke the ban but “pledged” to secure compensation for mini-bus owners and earmark funds to buy back the mini-buses.
Some protesters pulled out trees and destroyed pots lining the street.
At a cost of about $25,000 per mini-bus, the depleted Treasury would have to find some $100 million in order to pay back owners ­ something which protesters refused to believe.
One man, Hassan Sweidan, father of five, doused himself with gasoline and was about to set himself on fire before he was prevented by other protesters and put in an ambulance.
“Even if they buy back our vans, what would we do with all these people, send them home to do nothing?” said Ghazi Serhan, a union member.

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