Army deploys in Lebanon as plea to protesters backfires

Bloomberg

The Lebanese army deployed heavily across the country and banks and schools remained shut for a second day as protesters incensed by a call to go home began to converge on the presidential palace.
Life in much of Lebanon ground to a halt a day after President Michel Aoun told anti-government demonstrators to disperse or else they’d risk the country’s stability. The appeal provoked a new surge of nationwide unrest in which one man was killed, with major roads closed on Wednesday.
Baabda Palace, the presidential residence in a mountain town on the outskirts of Beirut, is the latest focal point of the protests convulsing Lebanon since last month. While the president plays a largely ceremonial role, Aoun is becoming a target of rage since he’s calling the shots as the country endures its third week without a prime minister.
Lebanon has been without a government since Saad Hariri resigned as premier in the face of the uprising.
It’s one of the most serious crises for the country since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
After appearing to lose momentum, demonstrations took an angrier turn after Aoun’s remarks as people burned tires and closed major roads. Outraged protesters stepped up demands for Aoun to resign too.
Speaking in a televised interview from the presidential palace, Aoun said a new government would have to resemble the lineup brought down by popular protest late last month and those who couldn’t live with the political realities should leave.
“I ask the Lebanese not to behave with such negativity, especially as this can lead to counter-negative behaviour and, consequently, a confrontation,” Aoun said.
As the interview ended, thousands of people descended onto the streets across Lebanon, setting fires, pitching tents and renewing their demands for change. One protester loyal to Druze leader Walid Jumblatt was shot as soldiers tried to reopen a thoroughfare south of Beirut. He later died.
The army said one of its personnel shot the man during a confrontation with protesters and the shooter has been detained. In a video posted online, Jumblatt told his supporters to remain calm and maintain trust in state institutions.
Aoun said formal consultations to name a new prime minister would begin on Thursday or Friday but could be delayed while politicians hammer out the shape of the next cabinet.
Demonstrators are calling for a government of experts that’s able to steer Lebanon through a financial crisis that has put pressure on its decades-old
currency peg.
Aoun rejected that demand, saying experts should be represented alongside the political parties that dominate the elected parliament.
Local lenders have tightened restrictions on the movement of capital by banning transfers abroad and setting limits on withdrawals to avoid a run on the banks. Central bank Governor Riad Salameh said he’d asked bankers to ease those restrictions.
Aoun confirmed reports that while efforts were under way to push Hariri back to the premiership, he was, so far, hesitant to return. The president asked protesters to go home and allow him and the future government to carry out the reforms required, a demand that appears to have.
“We want a government that is appropriate and can fight corruption and have the courage to do so and devise an economic plan as well as prepare the country to move towards a civil society,” Aoun said.