Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star
Emboldened by the French movement “Yellow Vests,” a few hundred Lebanese marched through Beirut Sunday to protest against worsening economic conditions and the country’s sectarian-based political system and vent their anger against politicians for failing to form a new government.
The government formation process this week enters its eighth month of deadlock amid a last-minute hitch over the representation of six pro-Hezbollah Sunni MPs that dashed hopes for a new Cabinet before the Christmas and New Year holidays.
During the day-long protests, in which some activists sported the yellow vests worn by anti-government protesters in France, soldiers and security forces beat up demonstrators and camerapeople, including The Daily Star’s photographer Hasan Shaaban, with batons.
Following scuffles between security forces and protesters, the Army issued a statement appealing for calm and warning against attacks on private or public properties.
“The Army Command calls for peaceful protests and refraining from vandalizing public and private properties,” the statement said. “The Army Command will not allow vandalizing these properties and calls on protesters not to depart from the context of demands set for the demonstration.”
The protests, staged in Beirut and other areas, were called for by multiple civil activist groups on social media, including the Sabaa Party and the Lebanese Communist Party, to express outrage over the 7-month-long government formation deadlock and myriad issues that have long plagued Lebanon, including the economic crisis and the problems of water, electricity and unemployment.
The protesters, who demanded jobs, improved health care and an end to corruption, stressed that they did not belong to or represent any particular political party.
“The people want to bring down the regime,” demonstrators shouted, using a slogan from the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, as the protest kicked off in the morning from Martyrs’ Square, where the Army had deployed a number of armored vehicles, at Riad al-Solh Square in Downtown Beirut.
A spokesman for the protesters told a local TV station Sunday night that the protests would resume in Beirut and other areas Wednesday to allow the Lebanese to celebrate the Christmas holiday. Commenting on the protests that called, among other things, for the formation of a new Cabinet, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri tweeted: “Sometimes silence is a must in order for the others to hear.”
Top officials had projected a Cabinet would be formed by Saturday night, but last-minute hurdles crushed hopes it would materialize before the New Year.
The protests came amid dwindling hopes for the formation of a new Cabinet ahead of the holiday seasons as had been widely expected after the six pro-Hezbollah Sunni lawmakers Saturday withdrew their support for Jawad Adra, one of four candidates they had chosen to represent them in the next government. The demand for representation by the six MPs not affiliated with the Future Movement was the last remaining hurdle that has stalled to the Cabinet formation since late October.
The six MPs, brought together in a group called the “Consultative Gathering,” said they had reached the decision because “Jawad Adra does not consider himself a representative of the group.”
Speaker Nabih Berri expressed concern over what he called the “sudden disruption of the Cabinet formation issue that dashed all hopes for optimism.”
Speaking to visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence, Berri said he was surprised by the manner used by some politicians to pass a ministerial seat for Adra in such a way that would take him away from the “Consultative Gathering.”
He was implicitly referring to caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, who reportedly wanted Adra to be part of the FPM’s parliamentary Strong Lebanon bloc. Political sources told The Daily Star that Bassil wanted the six MPs to be represented by a minister close to his party so that the FPM and President Michel Aoun can maintain “a veto power,” or controlling 11 ministers in a 30-member Cabinet.
“I fear that behind the disruption is something big that is not clear to me so far. Therefore, it’s bigger than the Consultative Gathering story and deeper than portfolios, even though the issue of portfolio [distribution] was finished a long time ago and Prime Minister Hariri himself had said that there was nothing lacking except the names of Hezbollah ministers,” Berri was quoted as saying. “But the past few days have confirmed that neither Hezbollah, nor the names of its ministers had anything to do with this issue [Cabinet obstruction], despite the knowledge that I personally have not presented the names of the Development and Liberation bloc,” he added.
Berri said he did not rule out the possibility of a “foreign factor” being behind the obstruction of the Cabinet formation.
Asked to comment on the street protests in central Beirut, Berri said: “The protesters’ demands are rightful. They are demanding a government and we too are demanding a government.”
Sources at Baabda Palace said behind-the-scene contacts and efforts were being made with Hariri to resolve the problem of the six MPs’ representation.
“Today’s street protests should serve as an incentive to all the parties to accelerate the Cabinet formation,” a source at Baabda Palace told The Daily Star. But the source appeared to be skeptical about an imminent Cabinet formation, saying: “No one knows if the government will be formed before the New Year.”
MP Abdel-Rahim Mrad, one of the six MPs, painted a gloomy outlook of the Cabinet formation and reiterated the group’s stance that any candidate to the new government must solely represent the group.
“Things are a standstill. We are waiting for a new initiative from President Aoun to resolve the problem of the Consultative Gathering’s representation,” Mrad told The Daily Star. He said that the group had sent Aoun four names, including Adra, to represent them.
“Any candidate must represent the Consultative Gathering exclusively and does not belong to any bloc,” Mrad said.
Another issue that further compounded the Cabinet formation was Bassil’s demand for a redistribution of some ministries. Hariri met Berri at Ain al-Tineh Saturday to discuss this issue. Berri was reported to have firmly rejected any redistribution of ministerial portfolios allotted to the Amal Movement and Hezbollah.
