A Bundle Of English Reports Addressing the Riots & demonstrations That are Taking Place In Occupied Lebanon
18/19/October/2019
Arrests, Injuries as Army Troops Disperse Riad al-Solh Protest by Force
Major Roads across Lebanon Blocked in 2nd Day of Protests
Riot police clash with Lebanese protesters in Beirut, injuries reported
2 Dead, 6 Hurt as Ahdab Bodyguards Open Fire at Tripoli Demo
2 Dead, Dozens Hurt and Most Roads Blocked as Protests Engulf Lebanon
Hariri Gives Parties 3 Days to Back His Reforms, Says Obstacles Put in His Way
Aoun and Hariri Call Off Cabinet Session, PM to Address Nation
Bassil Warns of ‘Strife’, Says Rival Political Parties Exploiting Protests
Jumblat Calls on PSP to Stage Peaceful Protests
Geagea Urges Hariri to Resign, Calls on LF to Join Protests
AMAL Warns ‘Suspicious Elements’ May Infiltrate Protests
Kataeb party leader MP Sami Gemayel Hails ‘Uprising,’ Calls for Early Legislative Elections, Govt. Resignation
Former PMs Stand in Solidarity with Hariri
Lebanon in lock down as protesters demand new government
Kuwait, Egypt, US, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain issue warnings to citizens in Lebanon
Hizbullah Official: Presidency, Govt. and Hizbullah Not to Blame for Current Crisis
Arrests, Injuries as Army Troops Disperse Riad al-Solh Protest by Force
Associated Press/Naharnet/October 18/2019
Army troops and riot policemen used excessive force Friday evening to disperse anti-government protesters, making a large number of arrests.
Violent clashes and riots had broken out in downtown Beirut following a speech by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who gave political parties a 72-hour ultimatum to support his reform agenda or face a possible resignation.
Thousands of protesters have been rallying across the country for the past two days, raging against top leaders including the president, prime minister and parliament speaker whom they blame for decades of corruption and mismanagement that have led to the current crisis.
The protests are the largest Lebanon has seen since 2015 and could further destabilize a country whose economy is already on the verge of collapse and has one of the highest debt loads in the world.
The protests, triggered partly by a proposal for a $6 monthly fee for WhatsApp voicecalls, drew people from all religious and political backgrounds and were largely peaceful, although violence erupted in several areas. Many said they would remain on the streets until the government resigned.
Hariri said he understood the people’s “pain” and anger at his government’s performance and said “we are running out of time.”
Shortly after his speech, security forces fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters in central Beirut, leading to confrontations between police and young men in a downtown square. Others marched on the presidential palace in Baabda.
Time and again, the protesters shouted “Revolution!” and “The people want to bring down the regime,” echoing a refrain chanted by demonstrators during Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region in 2011.
They took aim at every single political leader in the country, including President Michel Aoun and his son in law, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, as well as the prime minister and parliament speaker, blaming them for systemic corruption they say has pillaged the country’s resources for decades.
“We are here today to ask for our rights. The country is corrupt, the garbage is all over the streets and we are fed up with all this,” said Loris Obeid, a protester in downtown Beirut.
Schools, banks and businesses shut down as the protests escalated and widened in scope to reach almost every city and province. Hundreds of people burned tires on highways and intersections in suburbs of the capital, Beirut, and in northern and southern cities, sending up clouds of black smoke in scattered protests. The road to Beirut’s international airport was blocked by protesters, stranding passengers who in some cases were seen dragging suitcases on foot to reach the airport. Major arteries including the Salim Salam tunnel that connects central Beirut with the airport were blocked with sand dunes.
“We are here for the future of our kids. There’s no future for us, no jobs at all and this is not acceptable any more. We have shut up for a long time and now it is time to talk,” Obeid added.
In the northern city of Tripoli, bodyguards for a former member of parliament opened fire at protesters who closed the road for his convoy wounding three of them, witnesses said.
The tension has been building for months, as the government searched for new ways to levy taxes to manage the country’s economic crisis and soaring debt.
The trigger, in the end, was the news Thursday that the government was planning, among other measures, to impose a tax on WhatsApp calls — a decision it later withdrew as people began taking to the streets.
Two Syrian workers died Thursday when they were trapped in a shop that was set on fire by rioters. Dozens of people on both sides were injured.
Years of regional turmoil — worsened by an influx of 1.5 million Syrian refugees since 2011 — are catching up with Lebanon. The small Arab country on the Mediterranean has the third-highest debt level in the world, currently standing at about $86 billion, or 150% of its gross domestic product.
International donors have been demanding that Lebanon implement economic changes in order to get loans and grants pledged at the CEDRE economic conference in Paris in April 2018. International donors pledged $11 billion for Lebanon but they sought to ensure the money is well spent in the corruption-plagued country. Despite tens of billions of dollars spent since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990, Lebanon still has crumbling infrastructure including daily electricity cuts, trash piles in the streets and often sporadic, limited water supplies from the state-owned water company.
Major Roads across Lebanon Blocked in 2nd Day of Protests
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/Naharnet/October 18/2019
Hundreds of protesters blocked major highways in Lebanon Friday, after thousands angry at proposed tax increases thronged the streets overnight demanding the government’s resignation in the largest demonstrations in years. Public anger has simmered since parliament passed an austerity budget in July to help trim a ballooning deficit and flared on Thursday over plans to tax calls on messaging applications such as WhatsApp, prompting the government to withdraw the deeply unpopular proposal. On Friday morning, charred refuse bins, torched tires, broken street signs and shattered glass from damaged storefronts littered the streets of central Beirut — the scene of violent confrontations between security forces and protesters overnight. The government announced the cancellation of a planned cabinet meeting as protesters gathered for a second day, the state-run National News Agency reported. Prime Minister Saad Hariri is expected to deliver a speech later in the day. Banks, state institutions, schools and universities were closed as protesters blocked key highways connecting the capital to the rest of the country with burning tires. Demonstrators meanwhile cut the main road to Beirut airport for a second straight day. Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan warned protesters “against damaging public and private property and blocking roads.”Security forces will take necessary measures to protect the safety of civilians and their property, she said on Twitter Friday.
Tax on Whatsapp calls
Dozens gathered near government headquarters in central Beirut, screaming anti-government slogans and denouncing dire living conditions in a country with one of the highest debt to GDP ratios in the world. “We are here today to ask for our rights. The country is corrupt, the garbage is all over the streets and we are fed up with all this,” said Loris Obeid, a protester. “We are here for the future of our kids. There’s no future for us, no jobs at all and this is not acceptable any more. We have shut up for a long time and now it is time to talk,” she added. A convoy of motorcycles drove towards the interior ministry, followed by dozens of protesters on foot, who chanted the popular refrain of the Arab Spring protests of 2011: “The people demand the fall of the regime.”Yara, a 23-year-old graduate, said she joined up because the protests were not sectarian. “For once people are saying it doesn’t matter the religion, it doesn’t matter which political party you are following,” she told AFP. “Today what matters is that all of the Lebanese people are protesting together.” Protesters also gathered in the southern city of Sidon and in several towns in the east and north. Their numbers were expected to swell though the day.
Demonstrations erupted across the country late on Thursday after the government announced a $0.20 tax on the huge number of calls made on messaging applications. They are the largest since a 2015 refuse collection crisis sparked widespread anti-government protests. They come at a time of deep divisions within the government over a raft of issues, including not only the economic reform package, but also the allocation of public sector positions and rapprochement with the resurgent Syrian government. In central Beirut, rioting continued into the early hours of Friday.
Security forces finally dispersed the demonstrators shortly before dawn, firing volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets after they tried to storm government headquarters. The clashes wounded at least 23 protesters, according to the Red Cross, and 60 security force personnel, according to police. NNA said two foreign workers choked to death early Friday after they were trapped in a building set alight by rioters. Other reports said the two men were Syrian.
In a sign of the scale of the popular anger, demonstrations were reported Thursday in neighborhoods dominated by Hizbullah, a party not used to opposition in its own bastions. Protesters also burned pictures of Hariri in the northern city of Tripoli, where he is influential, and others protested near Beirut against President Michel Aoun. Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs think-tank, said the protests were “totally spontaneous” and appeared to be against the entire political class. “The protests are a result of a piling up of grievances, resulting mainly from government mismanagement,” he said.
‘Give me light’
Residents suffer from constant electricity shortages and poor internet. “I want the streets to be lit. I don’t want to hear any more generators,” Dima Abu Hassan, 42, said. “Start there — at least some infrastructure.”The government has also come under heavy criticism over its response to forest fires. Growth in Lebanon has plummeted in the face of repeated political deadlock in recent years, compounded by the impact of eight years of war in neighboring Syria. “Most high-frequency indicators point towards a continuation of weak growth in 2019,” the International Monetary Fund said Thursday. Lebanon’s public debt stands at around $86 billion — more than 150 percent of gross domestic product — according to the finance ministry. Eighty percent of that figure is owed to Lebanon’s central bank and local banks. Last month, banks and money exchange houses rationed dollar sales, sparking fears of a devaluation of the Lebanese pound.
Riot police clash with Lebanese protesters in Beirut, injuries reported
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Friday, 18 October 2019
In the second day of mass protests across Lebanon against the government’s handling of an economic crisis, demonstrators in downtown district of Beirut clashed on Friday evening with riot police who fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse them. Protesters also set tires ablaze and blocked some of the main entrances to the capital, setting up barriers in the streets of downtown Beirut. An Al Arabiya correspondent reported injuries among the security forces personnel, while some protesters vandalized shops and cars parked in the area. Security forces detained some protesters in central Beirut, according to Reuters witnesses. In the vicinity of the presidential palace in Baadba, east of the capital, protesters clashed with security forces as they tried to reach the palace. Road blocking continued in different Lebanese regions. No political leader, Muslim or Christian, was spared the protesters’ wrath. The protesters’ chants called for leaders including President Michel Aoun, Hariri and parliament speaker Nabih Berri to step down. The mood was a mixture of rage, defiance and hope. As night fell, crowds waving Lebanese flags marched and drove through the streets with patriotic music blaring from loudspeakers while shouting: “Our demands are one, our objective is one: the people want the downfall of the regime,” Reuters reported. Some protesters, including men in black hoods, used iron bars to smash store fronts in the posh downtown district of Beirut. The Interior and Municipalities Minister, Raya al-Hassan, implored protesters to avoid vandalizing public property, according to the Lebanese national news agency (NNA). “I reiterate to all citizens participating in the ongoing protests that the freedom to demonstrate and to express their demands is a sacred right guaranteed by the constitution. In this vein, I urge all protesters not to vandalize public and private properties and to avoid blocking roads and traffic, as this fully contradicts with the ethics of Lebanese citizens,” al-Hassan said via Twitter. The unrest lead Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri to issue a warning in a speech addressed to the nation, saying that his “partners in the government” had 72 hours to show that they are serious about reforms, or he will take a different approach. Meanwhile, the embassies of Kuwait, Egypt, the US, and Saudi Arabia in Lebanon have asked their citizens on Friday to avoid crowds amid protests against the country’s government. The United Nations urged all sides to refrain from activities that could lead to increased tensions and violence.
2 Dead, 6 Hurt as Ahdab Bodyguards Open Fire at Tripoli Demo
Naharnet/October 18/2019
Two protesters were killed and six others were wounded when bodyguards of ex-MP Mosbah al-Ahdab opened fire during an anti-government demo in the northern city of Tripoli, media reports said. The violence erupted after the protesters rejected Ahdab’s participation in their rally, pelting him with bottles.
The bodyguards opened fire to secure the ex-MP’s departure from the area. Angry protesters later vandalized the offices of a company owned by Ahdab before heading to his residence which was secured by army troops. One of the bodyguards who opened fire has since been arrested. The Tripoli demo was part of the sweeping anti-government protests that are engulfing the country.
2 Dead, Dozens Hurt and Most Roads Blocked as Protests Engulf Lebanon
Associated Press/Naharnet/October 18/2019
Security forces fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters in Beirut early Friday after they tried to push through security barriers around the government headquarters amid some of the largest demonstrations the country has seen in years. The riots left two people dead and dozens wounded. The protests erupted over the government’s plan to impose new taxes during a severe economic crisis, with people taking their anger out on politicians they accuse of corruption and decades of mismanagement.
The protests started with a few dozen people gathering in central Beirut over the imposition of a 20-cent daily fee on messaging applications, including WhatsApp. They quickly escalated into some of the biggest demonstrations since an uprising over a garbage crisis in 2015, with thousands of people taking part. People gathered near the government headquarters and parliament building where riot police were deployed, chanting: “Revolution!” and “Thieves!” — the latter a reference to widespread corruption in a country that has one of the highest debt loads in the world. Some protesters threw stones, shoes and water bottles at security forces and scuffled with police. Security forces said at least 60 of its members were injured in the clashes. Protesters were also injured.
State-run National News Agency said two foreign workers choked to death when fire was set in a building where they were sleeping in downtown Beirut. George Kittaneh, the head of the Lebanese Red Cross, said 22 people fainted and were taken to a hospital while 70 were treated on the spot. Police showed restraint as they were pelted with stones for several hours, firing volleys of tear gas only after protesters broke through the first security barrier near the government house. Police chased protesters through the streets of Beirut’s commercial district through the night. The protests could plunge Lebanon into a political crisis with unpredictable repercussions for the economy which has been in steady decline. Some of the protesters said they would stay in the streets until the government resigns.
“The government is trying to help Lebanese citizens avoid a collapse,” Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan, who ruled out the possibility of a Cabinet resignation, told the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV. “If another government is formed it will take the same measures.”Protesters closed major intersections with burning tires and garbage containers, causing traffic jams. As the protests escalated, the minister of education declared that public and private schools and universities would close Friday. Years of regional turmoil — worsened by an influx of 1.5 million Syrian refugees since 2011 — are catching up with the small Arab country. Lebanon has the third-highest debt level in the world, currently standing at about $86 billion, or 150% of its gross domestic product.
“We refuse what’s happening in Lebanon… The failure of our government to do at least the minimum … has given us no other choice than to take the streets,” said writer and director Lucien Bourjeily.
“They are putting more and more taxes on us even though we can’t take any more taxes,” he said. When the motorcade of Education Minister Akram Shhehayyeb padded through downtown Beirut, protesters punched and kicked the cars. One bodyguard jumped out of an SUV and fired an automatic rifle into the air. ShehayYeb rushed out of his car and pushed the guard away and prevented him from shooting again. No one was hurt in the incident.
Protesters also closed roads in other parts of Lebanon, including the northern city of Tripoli, Tyre in the south and Baalbek in the northeast.
The government is discussing the 2020 budget, and new taxes have been proposed, including on tobacco, gasoline and some social media telecommunication software such as WhatsApp.
Telecommunications Minister MohamMed Choucair appeared on TV after the protests began and said Prime Minister Saad Hariri has asked him to drop the proposed tax on WhatsApp.
As protests continued, demonstrators clashed briefly with riot police outside the government headquarters, an Ottoman-era compound known as the Grand Serial.
“We have no jobs, we have money and we have no future,” one protester screamed. International donors have been demanding that Lebanon implement economic changes in order to get loans and grants pledged at the CEDRE economic conference in Paris in April 2018. International donors pledged $11 billion for Lebanon but they sought to ensure the money is well spent in the corruption-plagued country.
Despite tens of billions of dollars spent since the 15-year civil war ended in 1990, Lebanon still has crumbling infrastructure including daily electricity cuts, trash piles in the streets and often sporadic, limited water supplies from the state-owned water company. There are concerns over the country’s financial stability as well. Earlier this month, the local currency reached 1,650 Lebanese pounds to the dollar at exchange shops after it had been stable at 1,500 since 1997.
Hariri Gives Parties 3 Days to Back His Reforms, Says Obstacles Put in His Way
Naharnet/October 18/2019
Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday gave the country’s political parties a 72-hour ultimatum to back his reform agenda, in the face of unprecedented massive protests that have brought the country to a standstill. “The country is going through an unprecedented situation. The pain of the Lebanese is real and I support every peaceful protest,” Hariri said in an address to the nation. “I’m setting a very short deadline. Either our partners in the coalition government give a clear, decisive and final response to convince me, the Lebanese people and the international community… that everyone has decided on reforms, or I will have something else to say,” he added, suggesting that he might step down. “I do not regret the political settlement, because my duty was to protect the country,” the PM said. Commenting on the sweeping anti-government protests, some of which have turned violent, Hariri said anger is “a natural response to the political performance in Lebanon and the obstruction of the state’s work.”“All kinds of obstacles were put in the way of all the reform efforts that I proposed,” the premier lamented. He said the “real solution” is to “boost the country’s revenues through restoring the economy’s growth.”“Reforms do not stand for imposing taxes,” he noted. “What’s important is how to address this situation and find solutions,” he said, adding that for three years now he has been trying to “address the reasons behind the people’s pain.”
Aoun and Hariri Call Off Cabinet Session, PM to Address Nation
Naharnet/October 18/2019
President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday called off a cabinet session scheduled for the afternoon amid massive protests across the country over government plans to hike taxes. The cabinet session had been scheduled to be held at 2:00 pm at the Baabda Palace. The decision to convene cabinet in an emergency session had been taken following phone talks overnight between Aoun and Hariri after the protests escalated and turned violent in some regions. The protests, the biggest in recent years, have left two people dead and dozens injured while most roads in the country have been blocked.
Hariri’s office meanwhile announced that the premier will address the nation from his office at the Grand Serail at 6:00 pm.
Bassil Warns of ‘Strife’, Says Rival Political Parties Exploiting Protests
Naharnet/October 18/2019
Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday warned that the ongoing mass protests might descend into “chaos” and “civil strife,” as he lamented that some political parties are exploiting the demos to topple the presidency, the government and the parliament.
“What happened is the result of accumulating crises and failures,” Bassil said in a televised address from the Baabda Palace after meeting with President Michel Aoun. “What’s happening may be a chance and it also may turn into a big disaster and might plunge us into chaos and strife,” Bassil warned.
“Some domestic parties are exploiting the honest popular protests to achieve their goals of toppling the presidency, the government and the parliament,” Bassil added, in a possible reference to the Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Kataeb Party.
Noting that “people have the right to demonstrate,” Bassil said that Prime Minister Saad Hariri is “ready for reform,” Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is “standing by us” and Speaker Nabih Berri is “keen on the Baabda economic paper.”“It is enough to show the people that we are serious,” he added.
“I’m willing to ask our ministers and MPs to lift their immunity and bank secrecy,” he suggested. Pointing out that there is still “a rescue opportunity within a few days” and “without empty promises,” Bassil said the government parties “must meet and work despite the presence of the people on the streets.”
Bassil also warned that the alternative to the current government is “ambiguous” and “might be much worse than the current situation, especially in the absence of a government,” cautioning that a “known and unknown fifth column” might infiltrate the protests and trigger “chaos” and “strife.”“What’s happening on the streets is not targeted against us; it is rather in harmony with our demands,” he said. “The coming will be worse unless things are addressed,” Bassil warned, noting that unrest could carry with it a financial meltdown and a currency devaluation.
Jumblat Calls on PSP to Stage Peaceful Protests
Naharnet/October 18/2019
Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat on Friday called on his party to take part in the massive anti-government protests in the country. “Through its strongman, the presidential tenure is trying to put the blame on others, after having impeded all the possible reform initiatives, against which he incited through all available means,” Jumblat tweeted. “I call on comrades and supporters to stage calm and peaceful protests against this presidential tenure, which has ruined everything and monopolized everything,” Jumblat said. “We will act in our regions in order not to stir sensitivities,” he noted. PSP official Zafer Nasser had earlier said that the PSP will take part in protests as of this afternoon after “the new presidential tenure failed to achieve the promised reform.”
Geagea Urges Hariri to Resign, Calls on LF to Join Protests
Naharnet/October 18/2019
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday called on Prime Minister Saad Hariri to announce the government’s resignation, amid some of the biggest protests that the country has witnessed in years. “I address a sincere call to PM Saad Hariri for the resignation of this government in light of its catastrophic failure in stopping the deterioration of the economic and living situations in the country which has plunged us into the current state,” Geagea said in a statement. “I know the size of the efforts that PM Hariri exerted to address the situation, but the ministerial majority, unfortunately, was in another place,” Geagea added. “The best that PM Hariri can offer in these critical and difficult moments is submitting the resignation of this government to pave the way for the formation of another totally different and new government that can lead the process of the desired economic rise in the country,” the LF leader went on to say.
Geagea later called on all LF members and supporters to “take part in the ongoing popular protests according to the approach and atmosphere of these protests, which means without party slogans or flags.”
AMAL Warns ‘Suspicious Elements’ May Infiltrate Protests
Naharnet/October 18/2019
The AMAL Movement said Friday that the popular protests that have engulfed the country are rightful and legitimate but warned that “suspicious elements” might infiltrate the demonstrations. “We in the AMAL Movement stand by the legitimate demands that the movement had called for realizing on several occasions, whether during the drafting of the state budget or in terms of the implementation of the reform paper,” a statement said. “The movement has always been against imposing taxes and fees on citizens, especially low-income citizens,” the statement added. “Based on our principled stance on preserving people’s rights, the AMAL Movement calls for being vigilant against the infiltration of suspicious elements with the aim of deviating the protests from their right course,” it said.
Kataeb party leader MP Sami Gemayel Hails ‘Uprising,’ Calls for Early Legislative Elections, Govt. Resignation
Naharnet/October 18/2019
Kataeb party leader MP Sami Gemayel on Friday hailed Lebanon’s “uprising” as thousands of protesters thronged the streets calling for the government’s resignation, Gemayel said a statement released by his office. Gemayel said the current government must “resign” and that a government of “specialists” must replace it. He also called for early parliamentary elections. “We told you that the Lebanese people are in anger, and urged you to leave with your own will but you chose to be expelled. I call upon all the Lebanese including members and friends of Kataeb to carry on with their protests,” said Gemayel. “There is no room for fatigue, we will not let them stand in the way of the uprising, we will all stand firm under the banner of the Lebanese flag until the goal is achieved,” he added. “The demands are crystal clear. We demand the immediate resignation of the government and the formation of a government of specialists to be tasked with saving the economic and living situation, and the preparation for early parliamentary elections. The Lebanese today have withdrawn their trust from the political class,” he concluded.
Former PMs Stand in Solidarity with Hariri
Naharnet/October 18/2019
As thousands of demonstrators thronged the streets in Lebanon calling for the government’s resignation, ex-PMs Najib Miqati, Fouad Saniora and Tammam Salam issued the following joint statement: Lebanon entered a delicate turning point amid a looming political crisis and an understandable popular anger as a result of the economic crisis and stifling living conditions. It is noteworthy to say that the current happenings were preceded by escalation of positions mainly by key participants in power who raised the ceiling of confrontation through direct incitement. It has become evident that some attempt to evade responsibility for the latest developments, throwing all the blame on the Prime Minister. This approach coincides with repeated constitutional violations primarily aimed at the premiership’s position and the role of the prime minister and the council of ministers combined. From our national and political position as former PMs we declare: First: Absolute understanding of the popular movement which expresses a cry of soreness from the suffocating crises in Lebanon, and we call on all citizens to maintain peaceful action without being dragged into reactions that offend the noble slogans they express. Second: We appeal to all political leaders to be aware of the delicate situation and not launch unnecessary escalatory positions, and we urge them to cooperate to address the current crises and meet the sufferings of citizens. Third: Full solidarity with PM Saad Hariri in this ordeal and support for any position he takes to overcome the crisis. Any attempts to make him alone shoulder the blame for the crises are totally rejected. Although the PM is head of the executive authority, but the majority of parties represented in the Cabinet are required morally required to take part in finding a solution. We must also abide by the provisions of the Constitution in terms of powers and tasks, without oversteeping or violating them for the sake of imposing certain political approaches.
Lebanon in lock down as protesters demand new government
Jacob Boswall, Special to Al Arabiya English/Friday, 18 October 2019
Protesters have called on the Lebanese government to resign after unpopular new tax proposals sparked two days of mass demonstrations. The protests are of unprecedented nature in the mediterranean country, with people of all sects calling for the same demands and taking on the established political order.
One protester died in the Lebanese city of Tripoli, after the bodyguards of a former lawmaker allegedly fired at a demonstration to disperse the protesters, with local media saying that the army arrested one of the shooters. Throughout Thursday night, protesters in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square burned anything they could lay their hands on including advertising billboards, construction material, tires and trees. Some protesters removed street signs and used them as battering rams against advertising units and shop fronts while young men on motorcycles dodged broken glass to feed the blaze with fresh bottles of gasoline. The anarchic scenes in central Beirut continued throughout Friday, as young men declared that the protests would not end until the government resigned. “This is not the first protest in Beirut. But it could be the first step of a movement because today all the sects have come out into the streets: Muslim, Christian, Druze. We are all striking with one fist,” 28 year old Hasan from Beirut told Al Arabiya English. People of all religious and political stripes attended the protests, unified in their anger toward the country’s precarious economic situation and widespread corruption among the political class. Similar unrest has spread across the country, with thousands gathering in Tripoli’s main square according to videos shared on social media. Elsewhere in Beirut protesters blocked major roads and burned trash. Many Beirutis stayed at home, fearing damage to their cars and personal safety.
Economic anger
Anger has been building for weeks over an alleged shortage of US dollars within Lebanon’s highly dollarized economy. The unofficial exchange rate has soared above the authorized trading band of LBP 1,501-1,514 to the dollar, causing fears of bread and fuel shortages. “Last month the dollar crisis, last week the fuel crisis and the bread crisis. The Lebanese people can no longer take it,” said Mohammed, a chef from North Lebanon’s rural Dinnieh. Mohammed was forced to move to Beirut to find a job. He struggles to make enough money to pay rent in a city where 25 percent of apartments built since 1996 are empty. “Now the telecommunications ministry comes out and says we are going to charge you for Whatsapp,” he continued. At a Cabinet session Thursday, Lebanese ministers approved an unpopular per day fee for using internet-based phone calls over services like WhatsApp. The government is also considering raising value-added tax as part of the 2020 austerity budget, in an attempt to bring Lebanon’s budget deficit to 7 percent of GDP in 2020. Lebanon has the third highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the world, at around 150 percent. International credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Lebanon’s economy in August to CCC, suggesting that the country will only be able to pay back its debts under favorable conditions. The proposed Whatsapp tax was enough to spark nationwide protests; and yet Whatsapp and other social media platforms such as Facebook helped galvanize protesters, some of whom were as young as 15. “It is revolution across all of Lebanon. It is not the first time it has happened, but this time it is on a bigger scale. The country is trash and the wages are rubbish,” said one bare-chested teenager.
Demanding a new government
The protests represent a major challenge to Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government, who cancelled the scheduled Friday cabinet meeting in response to the protests. Hariri is set to speak later this evening. Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Joumblatt, a historical ally of Hariri, has called on his supporters to “peacefully” join the protests against the Lebanese government, advising PSP members to protest within the party’s areas to “avoid sensitivities.” Relations between the two party leaders have recently been strained, after a Twitter spat over the summer. A common demand by demonstrators is a rerun of last year’s parliamentary elections. “The MPs we voted to power haven’t done anything for us. I don’t have faith in a single MP… wherever there is money, they take it. Even the taxes we pay go into their pockets not into the state. If it went to the state, Lebanon would be in excellent health,” continued Mohammed. “In the North [of Lebanon] and Akkar, there is endless poverty. But politicians in the North are the richest in Lebanon … Now we want to elect a new government who have the interests of the country in their hearts.”
Kuwait, Egypt, US, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain issue warnings to citizens in Lebanon
Reuters, Dubai/Friday, 18 October 2019
The embassies of Kuwait, Egypt, the US, and Saudi Arabia in Lebanon have asked their citizens on Friday to avoid crowds amid protests against the country’s government. “The embassy also calls on citizens currently in Lebanon to take utmost care and stay away from crowds and demonstrations,” the Kuwaiti Embassy said in its tweet. “The embassy calls on all Egyptian citizens in Lebanon to avoid the areas of gatherings and protests, to be careful in their movements and to abide by the instructions of the Lebanese authorities in this regard,” Egyptian state news agency MENA said. Meanwhile, due to the road closures and unrest, the US Embassy has temporarily restricted off-compound movement of its personnel and instructed its citizens in the country to avoid crowds and areas of demonstration. Saudi Arabia also instructed its citizens to quickly communicate with it for preparations to leave Lebanon. Bahrain foreign ministry called on its citizens in Lebanon to leave immediately, the ministry said in a tweet..Protesters across Lebanon blocked roads with burning tires on Friday and thousands marched in Beirut, calling on the government to resign over an economic crisis.
