Protesters gather in front of the ‘Revolution fist’, symbol of Lebanon’s October 2019 uprising, during a rally in the capital Beirut’s Martyrs Square, on Sunday (AFP photo)

by AFP -- BEIRUT — Lebanon marked the second anniversary of its defunct protest movement with a low-key demonstration in Beirut on Sunday, while many stayed away amid grinding economic woes and deadly tensions over a port blast probe. Dozens marched under rain clouds towards Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut, an AFP photographer said. Mass protests bringing together Lebanese from all backgrounds erupted on October 17, 2019, denouncing deteriorating living conditions as well as alleged official graft and mismanagement, after the government announced a plan to tax phone calls made over messaging service WhatsApp. Cross-sectarian demonstrations swept the country, demanding the overthrow of political barons in power since at least the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Two years on, Lebanon is mired in a ballooning financial crisis compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, and battered by a devastating explosion at Beirut’s port on August 4 last year. Draconian banking restrictions have prevented many Lebanese from accessing their savings, while the local currency has lost more than 90 per cent of its value to the dollar on the black market. Almost 80 per cent of the population live in poverty, struggling to put food on the table amid endless price hikes, fuel shortages and power cuts. Protester Rabih Zein said it was not just previous police crackdowns that had kept demonstrators away on Sunday. “If anyone is wondering why there are not many people, it’s because they’ve deprived us of petrol, electricity and the money we put in banks,” he said. Each person marching represented many more who were forced to stay at home, Zein claimed. “Today is a symbolic stand. God willing, we will move towards change at the parliamentary elections” next spring, said the 37-year-old television producer from the northern city of Tripoli. The protest movement has given birth to a flurry of new political groups, which many hope will run in the upcoming polls.

Oct 17 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has advised its citizens not to travel to Lebanon in light of the latest security events, …

تأتي ذكرى المولد النبوي الشريف هذا العام بعد انتكاسة أمنية تضاف ال النكبة الاقتصادية، كم نتمنى أن تكون عبرةً عابِرَةً فيعود “العيد” …

By NAJIA HOUSSARI -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Members of parliament hid in their homes on Saturday in fear of assassination by Hezbollah gunmen as new turmoil in Lebanon threatened to spiral out of control. Security services advised MPs from the Lebanese Forces party not to venture out amid growing tension over a judicial investigation into the Beirut port explosion in August 2020, which killed more than 200 people and devastated swaths of Beirut. “Yes, this advice was given to the MPs of the Lebanese Forces,” party media chief Charles Jabbour told Arab News. “There is fear of them being exposed to assassination and murder, which Hezbollah has practiced before. The solution requires that Hezbollah hand over its weapons to the state.” The crisis surrounds the investigation being conducted by Judge Tarek Bitar, who wants to question former and serving ministers linked to Hezbollah and the allied Amal Party about their responsibility for the deadly port blast. The ministers claim the judge’s actions are political, and have refused to cooperate.

Tensions erupted into violence last Thursday, when seven people were killed after gunfire erupted during a Hezbollah and Amal protest against the investigation in a mainly Christian area of central Beirut. Justice Minister Henry El-Khoury said on Saturday he supported Judge Bitar, who had the right to summon whoever he wanted in the case. “I stand by the ... investigator,” El-Khoury said. He said he did not have the authority to replace Bitar, and faced no pressure to do so. The minister held crisis talks on Saturday to discuss the investigation with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Supreme Judicial Council president Suhail Abboud and public prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat. They decided to invite Bitar to a meeting of the council on Tuesday. “Judge Abboud is committed to judicial, not political, approaches to resolving the problem,” a judicial source told Arab News.