Demonstrators kept blocking roadways across Lebanon on Tuesday in protest over the country’s financial meltdown and political deadlock, despite a call by President Michel Aoun for security forces to clear the obstructions.
He spoke after a meeting with top security officials on Monday but on Tuesday a major highway leading southward from Beirut as well as areas in the center of the capital and around the northern city of Tripoli remained blocked with protesters burning tires and urging more people to join them.
Army chief General Joseph Aoun had said on Monday the right to peaceful protest would be protected barring damage to public or private property, but warned that troops should not get sucked into politics.
Lebanon’s financial crisis, which erupted in 2019, has wiped out jobs, locked people out of their bank deposits and raised the risk of widespread hunger.
“What are the Lebanese people waiting for? .... Are you able to teach your children? If a child gets sick, can you admit them to hospital? Can you buy them medicine...There is no education, no jobs, the dollar is at 10,000 (Lebanese pounds) and we are staying at home, dying slowly,” protester Fadi Nader said.
A new cabinet could implement reforms needed to trigger billions of dollars of international aid, but factional wrangling has frustrated the formation of a new government.
Groups of protesters have been burning tires daily to block roads since the Lebanese currency tumbled to a new low last week, deepening popular anger over Lebanon’s financial collapse.
Three people died in car accidents amidst the roadblocks on Monday, local media reported.
Local television aired a funeral in Zgharta in north Lebanon for two young men who died when they drove into a truck that was parked across a road to block traffic.
“Every person in this country has to shoulder responsibility. Let protesters go to the houses of the leaders and their palaces, not block roads,” the priest conducting the funeral told the gathering.
Despite growing anger on the streets, there have been no serious clashes between security forces and demonstrators in recent days, in contrast to previous rallies.
Analyst Karim Bitar said "revolution fatigue", "lack of clear vision or leadership" and anxiety over coronavirus were some of the reasons behind Tuesday's smaller numbers, and on-and-off road blocks.
"People are far too busy with the daily struggle to survive. Issues of political change have become secondary," he told AFP.
Lebanon's economic crisis has been aggravated by several lockdowns to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
