by thenational.ae -- Sunniva Rose and James Haines-Young  -- Protesters closed the highway from the Lebanese capital to Baabda Palace on Wednesday and refused an invitation to meet President Michel Aoun. The demonstration outside the presidential palace came on the 28th day of the mass uprising against the government and decades of corruption. On Wednesday evening, men with guns and knives arrived at a protest in Jal El Dib, north of Beirut, leading to fights with protesters. At least one man fired into the air before being disarmed. Earlier in the day, Mr Aoun conveyed a message through the presidential guard for the protesters outside the palace to send in a delegation to discuss their demands. But the demonstrators refused to send a small number of people, insisting that if the president wanted to hear their complaints he would have to speak to all those gathered.

Protesters expressed anger at an interview Mr Aoun gave on Wednesday evening, in which he said: “If they do not like any person in authority, let them emigrate.” “He told us, ‘If you don’t like what is happening, just leave',” said Guy Younes, 29, a civil engineer. "How is that possible in any country in the world? This is so stupid. He wants us to leave, 250,000 people to leave. Architecture student Nicholas Habib, 25, said: “We have a lot of requests. The first is the resignation of Michel Aoun and then we have to make selections and a technocratic Cabinet. “We want technocrats, we do not want politicians. It is engineers who are going to be judges and in the ministries, people who have nothing to do with politics.”

Mr Habib said Mr Aoun’s speech on Wednesday night angered him. “How can a president of a republic say that to his people?” he asked. But Mr Habib said he was optimistic that the president would eventually be forced to resign. People chanted, “We won’t go until the ‘father of all’ leaves,” using Mr Aoun’s self-given title. “Leave, leave, leave, your presidency is starving people.”

Marie-Therese Tabet, 65, who lives in Beirut, called for a new government that could stop the brain drain. “Our children, who are supposed to work, are highly educated people, hyper-responsible, but can’t find a way out so they go abroad where they succeed," Ms Tabet said. "Why not take advantage of these brains to maintain this country?” Two women standing on the motorway to Baabda said the president’s message had been provocative and spurred people to hit the streets on Wednesday. “Instead of calming things down, people got very angry and it’ll probably push the level of anger and tension even higher,” one of the women said. “Of course we don’t trust him. Why would the people trust a government that failed them for years and years? "He was just not listening to what people were saying, and it ended up with a terrible outcome last night.”

middle-east-online.com -- BEIRUT - Lebanese student Fatima Jaber's family is struggling to pay off multiple loans with double-digit interest rates. Even before the start of protests that have forced out Lebanon's prime minister, her confidence was fading in a financial system long regarded as a pillar of stability. But now, like many Lebanese, she thinks the system is broken.

The loss of trust is eroding liquidity in the banking sector, increasing concerns that banks may not be able to help the government fund high budget and current account deficits. One of the world's most indebted countries, Lebanon has a public debt equal to about 150% of its gross domestic product. "We need a change to the system because everyone has at least one loan from the bank and the rates are very high and we can't pay them," said Jaber, 22, as she and a small crowd protested outside the central bank in the capital, Beirut. Dollar loans have to be repaid in the same currency, which is especially difficult because there is a hard currency squeeze in Lebanon. With big banks' websites showing the annual interest on some loans is about 27%, any people are in dire straits.

Central bank governor Riad Salameh sought to ease concerns on Monday, saying the bank had a usable foreign cash reserve of $30 billion and total assets of $38 billion. The central bank has taken steps to protest depositors by ensuring no bank would fail and will seek to lower interest rates through liquidity management, he said. But the imposition by banks of controls on dollar withdrawals and transfers overseas has failed to rebuild confidence.

by middleeasteye.net -- Violence flared-up in Lebanon on Wednesday following the killing of a protester and a televised speech by President Michel Aoun overnight which triggered fresh rage against the country's sectarian leadership. Clashes broke out Wednesday afternoon at the Jal el-Dib bridge and highway, a major route from Lebanon's north to the capital, between protesters blocking the thoroughfare and local residents armed with knives and sticks. A video circulated on social media showed one man shooting into the air and pointing the machine gun towards protesters. A separate video showed protesters disarm the man and smashed the car in which he had arrived. At least four people were injured, local media reported. The Lebanese army intervened later in the afternoon to reopen the road. Hundreds also gathered along a highway leading to the presidential palace in Baabda as Lebanese army officers and riot police placed metal barriers and barbed wire on the road.

Security forces have been criticised for failing to adopt similar measures earlier this month when supporters of Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) gathered near the palace to support the president and his son-in-law, FPM leader Gebran Bassil. Aoun had invited protesters to send a delegation to meet with him, but the offer yielded no results. Previous invitations were also turned down as protesters argued it was not possible to appoint representatives to speak on behalf of the leaderless movement. Two main intersections - the Ring Bridge above Beirut’s central district and the Chevrolet intersection in the capital’s southern outskirts - were also blocked by protesters on Wednesday. Scuffles broke out between protesters and army officers at the Chevrolet intersection in the morning as the officers attempted to reopen the roads. No serious injuries were reported. Protesters also occupied the Cola intersection in east Beirut late on Wednesday.

Fight at a roadblock

by reuters.com -- Ellen Francis, Laila Bassam --BEIRUT (Reuters) - President Michel Aoun said on Tuesday Lebanon faced a catastrophe if protesters did not go home, igniting a new wave of demonstrations during which a protester was shot and killed after an altercation with Lebanese soldiers near Beirut. The shooting in Khaldeh south of Beirut was the first of its kind in nearly four weeks of nationwide protests against Lebanon’s ruling elite, escalating tensions in a country mired in deep political and economic crisis. The man who was killed was a member of the political party led by Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a civil war adversary of Aoun. Jumblatt urged his supporters to remain calm during a visit to the hospital where the man had been taken. In a statement, the army said a soldier had opened fire to disperse protesters who were blocking a road in Khaldeh, wounding one person. The soldier was detained and the incident was under investigation.

Addressing protesters in his interview, he said, “If you continue in this way, you will strike Lebanon and your interests.” “We are working day and night to get the situation in order. If they keep going, there is a catastrophe. If they stop, there is still room for (us) to fix things,” he said. As Aoun’s interview was ending, protesters blocked several main roads across Lebanon, some with burning tyres. Linda Boulos Mikari, protesting on a road north of Beirut, said Aoun’s interview had brought her back onto the street. “We are tired of the authorities always (acting) as if we are doing nothing. The president goes live and talks to us as if we are children, ‘go home’. Respect us a little,” she said.

AOUN FOUND HARIRI “HESITANT” ON BEING PM