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Lebanese Acting Prime Minister Hassan Diab speaks at the Government Palace in Beirut on Saturday. Reuters photo from the Dalati & Nahra Foundation. reuters_tickers
This content was published on March 6, 2021 at July 11:45 PM
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Protesters blocked several roads in Lebanon for the fifth day in a row on Saturday and a massive army presence filled areas in the capital as anger began over the country’s economic recession. Lebanese interim prime minister Hassan Diab threatened on Saturday to abstain from the performance of his duties to pressure politicians to form a new government.
Groups of protesters have set tires on fire to block roads across the country on a daily basis since the Lebanese currency plunged to a new low on Tuesday, infuriating residents who have long been alarmed by the country’s financial collapse.
On Saturday, protesters demonstrated in front of the Lebanese Bank Association, demanding access to their deposits, and then went to the Parliament building in central Beirut to express their frustration at deteriorating economic conditions. Some 50 protesters set tires on fire in Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut.
The financial crisis that began in 2019 has led to job losses and prompted warnings of rising hunger and depriving people of access to their bank deposits. The new cabinet could implement the reforms necessary to secure billions of dollars in international aid.
The Diab government resigned after the Beirut bombing on August 4, which destroyed large swaths of the capital, Beirut. Saad al-Hariri was appointed prime minister in October but has yet to form a new government due to a political crisis with President Michel Aoun.
Diab said in a speech: “If the withdrawal helps to form the government, then I am ready for it even if it contradicts my convictions,” indicating that this could disrupt the entire state and seriously harm the Lebanese.
The collapse of the Lebanese pound, which fell to 10,000 against the dollar on Tuesday, was the last straw for many who have seen the price of consumer goods such as diapers and pills nearly triple since the onset of the crisis.
Diab referred to a recent incident at a Beirut store where shoppers squabbled over powdered milk and asked, “Isn’t the milk race scene an incentive enough to go beyond the formalities and turn around corners in order to form a government? ”
A video of the fight was released on social media, highlighting the desperate state of the economy.
“Social conditions are getting worse, financial conditions are pressing hard and political conditions are becoming more complex,” Diab said.
“The country faces enormous challenges that a normal government cannot face without a political consensus, so how can an interim government face these challenges?”
(Press coverage of Maha El Dahan and Leila Bassam, prepared by Mohamed Farag and Ahmed Sobhi for the Arabic newsletter)
