Protests by Owners of “Hiraqat” (Artisanal Refineries) in Eastern Aleppo Countryside.. Chants Demand the Resignation of Al-Qablawi

The Front Line — Aleppo

The area of Tarhin, in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, witnessed demonstrations carried out by owners of “Hiraqat” (artisanal primitive oil refineries) and workers in the primitive refining sector. They were protesting recent decisions to stop the operation of these refineries and remove them from the region, amidst rising popular anger and fears that thousands of families would lose their sole source of income.

The protesters chanted slogans demanding the “resignation of Al-Qablawi,” the official in charge of the Syrian Petroleum Company, holding the authorities responsible for the deteriorating living conditions. They considered the new decisions a direct threat to the livelihoods of hundreds of workers in the primitive fuel sector.

Local sources reported that the protests followed authoritarian moves aimed at gradually ending primitive refining operations, as part of plans the government claims are related to limiting environmental and health damages and regulating the fuel sector.

The demonstrators demanded the provision of economic alternatives and appropriate compensation before the implementation of any shutdown or removal decisions. They also warned of dangerous economic and social repercussions if the current measures continue without providing alternatives.

In this context, sources added that the Internal Security checkpoint at the entrance to Aleppo city prevented the refinery protesters from entering the city while they were attempting to head to Saadallah al-Jabiri Square to protest.

The eastern Aleppo countryside has been witnessing rising tension for months over the file of fuel and primitive refining, in light of rising fuel prices and declining job opportunities, which has pushed workers in this sector to escalate their protests and pressure the authority to reverse its recent decisions.

The authorities’ attempts to justify closing the refineries under the pretexts of “environment” or “regulation,” in the absence of any real economic alternative, are merely a cover for a policy that does not care about the daily bread of thousands of families who depend on this sector. We are facing a conflict between a reactionary authority imposing its decisions from its ivory towers and “workers” facing hunger and an unknown fate at the bottom of the social ladder.

Preventing the protesters from reaching Aleppo city and surrounding them with security forces proves that the authority does not possess the language of dialogue, but rather the language of repression to protect its interests and the interests of its cronies. We, at “The Front Line,” the voice of the Revolutionary Left Party in Syria, affirm that the solution does not begin with forced removal decisions, but by providing decent development alternatives that workers participate in formulating, rather than being crushed under the wheels of their unjust decisions.

To the workers in the primitive refining sector: Your strength lies in your class solidarity. Do not let your fate be held hostage by the decisions of bureaucratic officials. The right to work and a decent life is not a gift from anyone; it is a right that is wrested through organization and the field.