Public Drivers Block Major Roads as Economic Crisis Deepens

Public drivers, tanker trucks and buses blocked major highways Thursday to protest the country's deteriorating economic and financial conditions

The general strike by public transport and labor unions started at 5 a.m., making it difficult for people to move around.

Protesters closed with their vehicles the country's major highways as well as roads inside cities and towns.

They blocked roads in central Beirut, Verdun, Hamra, Dora, Karantina, Mkalles, Nahr el-Kalb, Sarba, Sidon, Naameh, Aley, Dahr el-Baydar, the North and other regions.

The move comes as the country’s ruling class has done almost nothing to try to pull the country out of its meltdown, rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement.

The political class that has run the small nation of 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, since the 1975-90 civil war is resisting reforms demanded by the international community.

Universities and schools were closed all over Lebanon and many people were not able to reach work because of road closures.

The nationwide protests, dubbed a “day of rage,” are scheduled to last 12 hours.

Head of the Unions and Syndicates of the Land Transport Sector Bassam Tlais warned that today is the beginning of the "outrage."

"We have set a time and a place to gather and protest and the goal of the strike is not to ruin the country," Tlais said.

He added that "the next steps will be announced at the end of the strike."