Two protesters were killed and six others were wounded when bodyguards of ex-MP Mosbah al-Ahdab opened fire during an anti-government demo in the northern city of Tripoli, media reports said.

The violence erupted after the protesters rejected Ahdab’s participation in their rally, pelting him with bottles.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday gave the country’s political parties a 72-hour ultimatum to back his reform agenda, in the face of unprecedented massive protests that have brought the country to a standstill.

“The country is going through an unprecedented situation. The pain of the Lebanese is real and I support every peaceful protest,” Hariri said in an address to the nation.

Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday warned that the ongoing mass protests might descend into “chaos” and “civil strife,” as he lamented that some political parties are exploiting the demos to topple the presidency, the government and the parliament.

“What happened is the result of accumulating crises and failures,” Bassil said in a televised address from the Baabda Palace after meeting with President Michel Aoun.

The AMAL Movement said Friday that the popular protests that have engulfed the country are rightful and legitimate but warned that “suspicious elements” might infiltrate the demonstrations.

“We in the AMAL Movement stand by the legitimate demands that the movement had called for realizing on several occasions, whether during the drafting of the state budget or in terms of the implementation of the reform paper,” a statement said.

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.