BEIRUT: Beirut Gov. Ziad Chebib is facing backlash over a decision to destroy unlicensed, temporary structures used by locals and NGOs on the Ramlet al-Baida beach while being accused of turning a blind eye to larger encroachments on the capital’s coast. Bulldozers and dozens of municipality employees Saturday destroyed a series of structures - described in a statement from the governor’s office as “illegal and unlicensed construction” - on Beirut’s only public beach.

The structures included public bathrooms and changing rooms, kiosks and storage containers that held a first-aid center, a reading area and shaded veranda used to teach environmental awareness to children, a clinic for sea turtles and the offices of Operation Big Blue, an NGO that has helped manage the beach for some 16 years.

Since 2003, OBB has been managing the beach in close coordination with the Public Works Ministry. In April, the organization received a license from the ministry to go about yearly maintenance works on the structures, some of which fall on public land, others on private property.

Soon after, the NGO asked Beirut Municipality for help with removing some large structures from the beach. “They agreed. But when they came, they destroyed everything,” said Iffat Idriss Chatila, the president of OBB, referring to Saturday’s events.

Chebib said he was unavailable for comment Sunday.

Beirut Mayor Jamal Itani told The Daily Star that Saturday’s actions had been in response to complaints about bad odors and livestock being raised in some areas of the beach.

Beirut Municipality last month began taking measures that it said aimed to beautify the corniche and make it more accessible to visitors in anticipation of the summer tourist season.

Having gone there himself, Itani said he found containers filled with old rusty furniture, as well as chickens, pigeons, cats and dogs.

“It was a junkyard,” he said.

The OBB had agreed that these structures needed to be removed, but Itani noted that a “conflict” arose Saturday about the destruction of some structures situated on private land.

Itani said that Chebib personally sought to remove “everything” from the private land.

“I discussed [it] with him, and he said, ‘No, this has to be removed,’” Itani recalled.

Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos told The Daily Star that he had been informed “it is private land owned by [Prime Minister Saad] Hariri, and they asked for these things to be removed.”

He confirmed that he had given OBB the maintenance license as he has done in past years, but the municipality “said the public works minister doesn’t have the right to give this license.”

He declined to comment further.

Itani denied having acted in response to the demand of the landowner. He said that while Hariri had previously owned the land, he was under the impression that it had been traded and was unsure of its current ownership.

Criticism of Saturday’s move has centered on the fact that little has been done to remove hundreds of meters of encroachments on Beirut’s coast by high-end resorts, cafes and hotels.

Many have compared Chebib’s decision to what was seen as a less aggressive response against a series of violations attributed to the controversial Eden Bay hotel, which lies at the southern end of Ramlet al-Baida.

Chebib on June 7 sent a letter to the company that owns Eden Bay, outlining that the hotel had encroached on maritime public property with the use of concrete tiles. Chebib gave the company three days to remove the violations, or else the state would remove them itself. Work has begun to remove these violations, based on an order from the environmental public prosecutor.

The letter also noted that Chebib had designated Plot 3689, on which the hotel lies, as containing “building violations,” which essentially freezes any transactions that can be done with the property.

“The irony is that he [Chebib] bulldozes the facilities that are there to serve the public users of the beach, while he gives Eden Bay leeway and flexibility,” Mona Fawaz, a professor of urban studies and planning at the American University of Beirut, told The Daily Star.

Fawaz called the disparity a “disgusting display of class bias.”

Indeed, OBB President Chatila said that the organization had not even had time to remove documents, first-aid supplies and cameras, among other equipment it had bought, before the bulldozers tore down the structures.

Chatila claimed that Saturday’s events were retribution for the NGO’s previous opposition to the Eden Bay hotel and allegations that Chebib was covering for the resort. “The governor was mad that we stood in his face. Destroying our things is clear revenge,” she said.

Jad Tabet, head of the Order of Engineers and Architects, told The Daily Star, “There is no understanding of the public good.

“When it’s important, they don’t act, and when they do, it’s in the wrong place.”

Beirut MP Mohammed Khawajah said in a tweet Saturday, “Is what happened today an application of the law, or the facilitation of the seizure of what remains of ... Beirut’s coast? ... Why did the invasion not begin with removing the major encroachments protected by politics and money?”

Also weighing in, civil society group Beirut Madinati called out a “double standard in destroying small structures used by the public, while turning a blind eye to the largest and most serious violations by cafes and resorts.”

“It is clear and unambiguous that the municipality of Beirut is now using the law as an instrument against poor and low-income people instead of encouraging and facilitating the public use of the beach,” it said in a statement.

Responding to the criticism, Itani said, “It doesn’t affect the poor people. We didn’t hurt people, we helped them; we cleaned the beach.” The Beirut mayor added that he was in favor of “removing everything that is illegal ... through the proper legal mechanisms.”

“We promise to do something really nice to replace what was destroyed, including the showers and the changing rooms,” he said.