BEIRUT - Main roads across Lebanon were closed on Wednesday in fresh protests after President Michel Aoun angered demonstrators by urging them to end their revolt against corruption among the country’s ruling elite.
His remarks in a television interview late on Tuesday ignited demonstrations overnight in which a protester was shot and killed after an altercation with Lebanese soldiers at a roadblock south of Beirut.
The killing marked a bloody twist to the crisis that has gripped Lebanon for nearly a month, escalating tensions in a country ensnared in a deep political and economic crisis.
The man was a follower of Walid Jumblatt, a veteran Druze politician and former civil war militia leader, who has urged his supporters to remain calm.
Schools and banks were closed for a second straight day. They have been shut for much of the four weeks since the start of the protests against political leaders seen as venal and unable to rescue Lebanon from rising poverty and unemployment.
One banker said all transfers were frozen for now.
“The reaction was very spontaneous. People felt we have to ramp up the pressure,” said Joelle Petrakian, who was protesting at a blocked highway in central Beirut, describing Aoun’s interview as “very dismissive”.
“I think they are trying all the ways to let us cool down but on the contrary, we will not stop.”
Several dozen protesters watched by troops and police sat blocking the normally busy road. Nearby lay smouldering debris ignited during protests overnight triggered by Aoun’s remarks.
“Aoun ignites the intifada (uprising),” ran the front page headline in the daily Ennahar newspaper.
In his interview, Aoun indicated there was no breakthrough in talks over forming a new government to replace Saad al-Hariri’s coalition cabinet. Hariri, who quit on Oct. 29, was hesitant about being prime minister again, he said.
Aoun also said a purely technocratic government, as demanded by many protesters, would not be able to govern Lebanon and so it should include politicians.
Addressing protesters in his interview, he said, “If you continue in this way, you will strike Lebanon and your interests ... If they keep going, there is a catastrophe. If they stop, there is still room for (us) to fix things.”
As Aoun’s interview was ending, protesters blocked several main roads across Lebanon, some with burning tyres. Tensions flared in Beirut late into the night. In the Cola district near Beirut, dozens of men pelted stones at soldiers and a tank.
Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri called the head of the army and the police and stressed the need to protect citizens and ensure the safety of the protesters. He called Jumblatt and conveyed his condolence, his Twitter feed said.(FA)
