Lebanon paralysed for seventh day, Army opens some roads

Lebanese Army soldiers stand guard next to demonstrators during ongoing anti-government protests at a highway in Jal el-Dib, Lebanon, 23 October – Reuters

BEIRUT (Reuters): Lebanese Army troops scuffled with demonstrators yesterday as they struggled to unblock main roads, after economic reforms proposed by the Government failed to stem a historic wave protests against the political elite.

Hundreds of thousands of people have flooded the streets for nearly a week, furious at a political class they accuse of pushing the economy to the point of collapse. Banks were closed for a fifth working day. Schools remained shut. Many highways were impassable.

Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s Government announced an emergency reform package on Monday, to try to defuse the anger of protesters demanding the Government resigns and also to steer the heavily indebted State away from a looming financial crisis.

A Reuters witness said scores of young men and women in Sidon, 45 km (28 miles) south of Beirut, had blocked the highway at an entrance of the city by sitting on the ground from the early hours.

After failing to persuade protesters to open the road, which leads to and from the capital, soldiers beat some of them and the Red Cross took the injured to hospital, the witness said. That section of the highway reopened.

A security source said the Army’s decision was still to refrain from using any force. The Army would try to convince protesters peacefully to open some roads, and most remained blocked across the country yesterday, the source said.