Motorcycles banned in this Lebanon town

Visitors to the Phoenician Lebanese town of Sidon would be surprised when they see messy roads and chaotic traffic despite the heavy presence of police men. They could be even more surprised when they notice that there is not a single motorcycle in town.

The narrow uneven streets in most parts of the Mediterranean city in South Lebanon are often throttled by cars and the persistent honking by their nervous drivers, many of whom have been affected by 15-year civil strife that hit their country two decades ago.

But the deafening roar of motorcycle engines usually found in busy cities is virtually absent in Sidon. Motorcycles have even disappeared from showrooms which resorted to dealing in bicycles and other small machines to offset their losses.

Foreigners who visit Sidon would often wonder why there are no motorcycles in the 6,000-year-old town before they are told that these machines were banned by the government nearly 10 years ago because of motorcycle-mounted terror attacks.

A spate of such attacks by terrorists riding motorcycles against police men and residents of the 250,000-people town prompted Lebanese authorities to ban the use of motorcycles inside the city after other measures failed to stem such attacks.

Some have protested and demanded the cancellation of the decision but authorities countered by saying they would not take the risk.

As a result, noiseless small motorcycles running on batteries and travelling at just 30 kph have become widespread in Sidon, the capital of South Lebanon and the second largest Muslim Sunni concentration after the port of Tripoli in North Lebanon.

"I have a motorcycle but I use it only in the camp or outside the city," said Khalid Ayesh, a Palestinian living in the refugee camp of Ain El Helweh, two km from Sidon.

"I will not risk riding it inside the city as it will be immediately confiscated...I could also face prison as I may be accused of planning an attack."

Lebanon, with a population of around four million, suffered from a destructive civil war until 1995, during which it was also invaded by Israel in 1982.

There were also inter-faction and ethnic clashes in and around Sidon in some years before the Lebanese army took control of the city and disarmed people except those living in the nearby Palestinian refugee camps.

After a series of attacks by armed men riding motorcycles on the army, police men and other sites, authorities decided to ban the use of these machines except for cops.

"If you go to other cities, you will see motorcycles on the roads but not in Sidon...there is no sign in sight the ban will be lifted," said Maarouf Zain, a Sidon resident.
 

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