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.

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.

A senior Hizbullah official on Friday announced that the incumbent presidency and government as well as Hizbullah cannot be blamed for the country’s current economic crisis, as massive and unprecedented protests engulfed the entire country.

“The spontaneous popular protests that Lebanon is witnessing reflect the magnitude of the living conditions crisis that the people are suffering,” Sheikh Ali Daamoush, the deputy head of Hizbullah’s executive council, said.

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.

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.

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.”