Lebanese Revive Protests with Year Start
Lebanon’s protests ongoing since October, regained momentum with the start of the year on Thursday pressing demands for a corruption-free country, as the new PM-designate grapples with efforts to form a much-delayed government amid political dispute over its form.
A group of protesters rallied near the Port of Beirut and the Port of Tripoli considered of the major corruption-plagued state institutions in the country.
“The revolution did not stop, it has just begun. The revolutionaries will carry on with their protests,” activist Charbel Qaii told LBCI.
In the Bekaa town of Zahle, the National News Agency said several roads were blocked by protesters mainly within central Bekaa, Saabnayel, Taalabaya, Qob Elias and all the entrances leading to the town were blocked.
In the capital, a major road of Corniche al-Mazraa and in Qasqas neighborhood were briefly blocked by protesters.
Overnight, protesters briefly blocked a major international highway in Baalbek.
Protesters have also been demanding the resignation of Lebanon's new prime minister Hassan Diab.
Lebanon is without a cabinet and in the grips of a deepening economic crisis after a two-month-old protest movement forced Saad Hariri to stand down as prime minister on October 29.
Anti-government protests continued after Hariri's resignation, while political parties negotiated for weeks before nominating Diab, a professor and former education minister, to replace him on December 19.
Echoing protester demands, Diab promised to form a government of independent experts within six weeks -- in a country where appointing a cabinet can take months.
Source: Naharnet
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/267787 |