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Bloomberg
Tens of thousands of protesters set fires and cut off roads across Lebanon, demanding the removal of a political class whose mismanagement and corruption they say has brought the economy to the brink of bankruptcy.
In a televised speech, Lebanese PM Saad Hariri gave his feuding coalition government a 72-hour deadline to get behind his plan for an economic overhaul or he would step aside and let them deal with a deepening crisis that has engulfed Lebanon in the biggest and most violent demonstrations in years.
Hariri accused his rivals inside the government of blocking measures that could unlock some $11 billion in international aid pledges and help restore investor confidence.
“If anyone thinks they have another solution†they are welcome to take power and try to implement it, Hariri said.
The ultimatum did little to ease anger on the streets, where protests were into their second night. Amid chants of “revolution†and “the people want the fall of the regime,†demonstrators burned tires, blocked roads and converged on the government headquarters in the upscale business district of Beirut.
As night fell, relatively peaceful protests in downtown Beirut descended into all out riots, with small groups of masked youths setting fires, smashing windows, overturning skips and throwing rocks at police who fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. With the violence worsening, large numbers of riot police and soldiers chased rioters down streets littered with debris and piles of broken glass. Army units deployed around Beirut to secure the streets.
The economic stakes are high for Lebanon, a tiny country that straddles the geopolitical fault-lines of the Middle East and has struggled to emerge from the shadow of a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.
One of the most indebted countries in the world, it needs to find fresh sources of funding as the foreign inflows on which it has traditionally relied have dried up. With the economy slowing and living standards falling, anger has grown at politicians who protesters say have lined their pockets at the public’s expense.
Fractious Government
The protests have increased pressure on Hariri, who heads a fractious coalition government that has struggled to overcome sectarian and political differences.
Saudi Arabia urged its citizens not to travel to Lebanon amid the violence, the official Saudi Press Agency said.
At the same time, Hezbollah-allied ministers and lawmakers have steadfastly opposed higher taxes and other difficult measures to spare their supporters further economic pain amid tightening US sanctions on the group’s members and on its patron, Iran.
The crisis has catapulted Lebanon into a new and unpredictable phase. If Hariri and his allies resign, Lebanon could end up with a government dominated by Hezbollah, making it even harder to attract investment from Gulf Arab countries or the West.
If it survives, few observers see how the government can overcome divisions that have already brought the economy to the precipice.
The International Monetary Fund projects Lebanon’s current-account deficit will reach almost 30% of gross domestic product by the end of this year.