The Daily Star
Thousands of demonstrators marched from Hamra to Downtown’s Riad al-Solh Square Sunday to protest against the Lebanese government’s policies and the country’s dire economic situation.
The protesters, who had gathered near the Central Bank before heading Downtown, held banners bearing slogans that condemned rampant corruption in the country.
Citizens and representatives from different union groups marched while anthems blared from speakers.
In a televised speech at the march, which was organized by the Lebanese Communist Party with the support of the Popular Nasserite Organization, LCP head Hanna Gharib said: “This is a call to save [the country] from collapsing … We are raising the red flag.”
Gharib said the country could no longer bear governance under a confessional system.
“This is the beginning of a public uprising,” he said, accusing the governing class of sidelining the general public and sharing political spoils among themselves.
“They are practicing the policy of conquest against the Lebanese, affecting their dignity, impoverishing them and threatening them with their livelihood in order to control their will,” Gharib said.
“The country’s economy is very close to collapsing and the government is unable to fund expenditures for the smallest services to citizens or even to pay its debts.”
He also criticized the delay in forming a government, a belabored process now in its seventh month.
Gharib called for protests to be held in front of the residences of President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, in addition to different state institutions.
He also called on protestors for an expanded meeting Friday to discuss plans for escalating demonstrations.
However, PNO leader MP Osama Saad said in a speech during the protest that Lebanese people across the country are suffering from the results of the failure of consecutive governments.
“The political crisis that they are talking about is a crisis of Lebanon’s system, and not the government formation,” Saad said.
“Today’s protest is an expression of a public [frustration],” he said.
Hariri’s efforts to form a new Cabinet have so far failed, with the latest obstacle being the demand for representation by six Hezbollah-backed Sunni MPs.
Various Lebanese officials, economists and experts have sounded the alarm over Lebanon’s economy, saying a government is needed immediately to avert collapse.
The calls intensified after Moody’s Investors Service last week changed Lebanon’s outlook from stable to negative on the government’s issuer ratings, but maintained its ratings at B3.
Moody’s said its B3 rating reflects its assumption that a Cabinet will be formed in the near future and will implement some fiscal consolidation to unlock the CEDRE public investment package, which in turn would support GDP growth and ease liquidity risks.
Donor countries at the CEDRE conference, held in Paris on April 6, pledged more than $11 billion in grants and soft loans to finance investment and infrastructure projects in Lebanon. Lebanon committed to implementing a series of reforms that would help ensure the success of the projects to be funded via the CEDRE pledges.
