The candidate of the Free Patriotic Movement for the post of president of the Beirut Bar Association, Georges Nakhle, announced Sunday that he withdrew from the race over “reasons related to the general situation in Lebanon.”

“I leave the full freedom to the colleagues who support me to choose the appropriate candidate,” he added.

The U.S. embassy in Lebanon has said that it supports "the Lebanese people in their peaceful demonstrations," but denied financing a so-called “revolution bus” that sparked controversy.

“We heard the rumors and no, the U.S. Embassy is not financing ‘the revolution bus’,” the embassy tweeted.

The Internal Security Forces put security measures into effect on Saturday to protect banks and their staff when the latter open their doors after a nearly two-week closure.

A group of activists from the northern region of Akkar innovated a new method in a bid to prove that Lebanese protesters demanding radical reform since October 17 are united from north to south Lebanon.

Speaker Nabih Berri warned that the situation in Lebanon is getting more “complicated,” emphasizing the need for a quick “resolve” for the crisis, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

The U.N. on Friday voted in favor of obliging Israel to pay Lebanon compensations over the 2006 oil spill caused by its bombing of the seaside Jiye power plant.

According to a tweet posted by MP Hagop Terzian, the U.N. decision obliges Israel to pay Lebanon $856.4 million in compensations.

A senior Hizbullah official on Friday said the tensions of the past few days in Lebanon are “totally unjustified.”

“After what happened over the past few days, and after the blatant political and partisan interferences, we have to ask and the protest movement has to ask about the identity of those sides that have a political program and are seeking to push the country into tensions and push the protest movement to practice harm and aggression against the rest of the people,” the head of Hizbullah’s executive council, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, said.

Former prime ministers Najib Miqati, Fouad Saniora and Tammam Salam on Friday called for the re-designation of caretaker PM Saad Hariri as premier, hours after Hariri agreed with Hizbullah, the Free Patriotic Movement and the AMAL Movement on nominating ex-minister Mohammed Safadi for the post.

“Since the beginning of the political crisis, we have insisted and today we reiterate our main stance that calls for tasking PM Saad Hariri with forming the new government,” they said in a statement.

A political source close to the Center House on Friday criticized Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil for announcing a date for the binding parliamentary consultations aimed at picking a new PM.

“Minister Bassil set a date for the consultations before the President’s move in this regard and he spoke on behalf of the premier who will be designated, announcing that the government’s formation will be quick,” the source lamented in remarks reported by Lebanese TV networks.

Under the direction of Minister of Interior Raya el-Hassan, a meeting was held between Internal Security Forces chief, Major General Imad Othman and a delegation from the Association of Banks in Lebanon, that agreed to take appropriate security measures to ensure the safe operation of this vital facility, a statement issued by the Ministry said.