Dozens of refugees from the battered Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon staged a sit-in on Thursday to demand asylum in Europe if they are not allowed to return home.
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They were among 31,000 refugees relocated from the camp after deadly clashes raged for more than three months between Islamist militants and the army, leaving much of the shantytown reduced to rubble.
More than 100 refugees gathered outside the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) office at the nearby Beddawi refugee camp complaining at their treatment. "If the question of our return is not decided, we will demand that all European countries offer us visas so we can emigrate," said Abu Wassim Taha, a spokesman for the group.
The Lebanese government has vowed to help the refugees return home, but reconstruction is expected to take a long time because of the extent of the destruction. |