Daily Star - Baalbek prison erupts in brief protest, April 19, 2012

BEIRUT: A protest erupted Thursday at a small prison in Baalbek, east Lebanon, but ended quickly, security sources told The Daily Star.

They said 15 out of Baalbek prison's 40 inmates took part in the protest demanding that they benefit from a newly approved law shortening the prison year for some prisoners from 12 to nine months.

The protesters took their mattresses and blankets out of their cells and into the prison corridor, threatening to set them on fire unless jail officials relayed their demands to authorities.

One prisoner suffered an unspecified self-inflicted injury in what appeared to be a bid to draw attention to his and his comrades' plight.

The sources, who spoke to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, said the head of the Baalbek jail police unit, Col. Abdallah Bou Zaidan, listened to the protesters' demands.

They added that an elite police squad was deployed on prison grounds to prevent any escalation, but that the protest ended peacefully.

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