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.

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.

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.

Protesters took to the streets and blocked key roads across Lebanon on Thursday evening over the government’s inclination to impose new taxes, especially a tax on voice calls via internet apps.

The protests first started at downtown Beirut’s Riad al-Solh Square following calls on social media before spreading to nearby areas and eventually to regions outside Beirut.

Telecommunications Minister Mohammed Choucair on Thursday said the planned fee on voice calls via WhatsApp and other apps is “not a tax” and that “nothing will be increased without giving something in return to citizens.”

“This is what I will explain in a press conference next week,” Choucair told MTV, noting that “the decision is the decision of the government with its various political blocs, not only the telecom minister.”

The Cabinet on Thursday approved a border control strategy amid the reservations of the Lebanese Forces party, as the debate of the 2020 draft state budget was postponed to a session that will be held on Friday.

Information Minister Jamal al-Jarrah said the strategy aims to “control the border with the neighboring countries.”

State Minister for Parliament Affairs Mahmoud Qmati, who belongs to Hizbullah, on Thursday stressed that no party in Lebanon can “turn the tables,” following remarks in this regard by Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil.

“In Lebanon, no one can turn the tables on anyone, because that would be an elimination of the other,” said Qmati as he entered a Cabinet session at the Grand Serail.

Progressive Socialist Party leader ex-MP Walid Jumblat on Thursday announced that his party is ready to confront the policies of the new presidential tenure and the Free Patriotic Movement even without the help of any other party.

“No matter what your capabilities in falsifying history, terror, arrests, oppression and murder might be, remember that we faced tougher and harsher circumstances and that we do not mind to confront alone,” Jumblat tweeted.

President Michel Aoun on Thursday held a meeting with visiting Irish President at Baabda Palace who said that Ireland is keen on backing the Lebanese government, as discussions highlighted the need for Syrian refugees in Lebanon to return back home.

The decline in telecom revenues seems to be a concern for the Lebanese state with the revenues of the sector falling by about 33% from 2017 and 2018, reports said.