Wed 13 November 2019:
Tensions have flared in Lebanon after President Michel Aoun urged protesters to go home, sparking a new wave of demonstrations during which a man was shot by a soldier who opened fire to disperse people blocking roads south of the capital, Beirut.
The shooting in Khaldeh on Tuesday was the first of its kind in nearly a month of mass protests calling for an overhaul of Lebanon’s political system and the departure of the ruling elite over a dire economic crisis.
The man who was killed was a member of the Progressive Socialist Party led by Walid Jumblatt, a Druze leader. Jumblatt urged his supporters to remain calm during a visit to the hospital where the man had been taken.
The victim “succumbed to his injuries” in hospital, the National News Agency said.
The army said in a statement a soldier had opened fire to disperse protesters who were blocking a road in Khaldeh, wounding one person. The soldier had been detained and the incident was under investigation.
Aoun says no breakthrough reached
The escalation came after Aoun indicated in a TV interview that there had been no breakthrough in talks over forming a new government to replace Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s coalition cabinet.
Hariri, who resigned on October 29 in response to the huge protests, was hesitant about being prime minister again, he said.
Aoun also said a purely technocratic government, as demanded by many in the leaderless protest movement, would not be able to govern Lebanon and so it should include politicians.
Addressing protesters, 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.
Asked if he was facing pressure from outside Lebanon to not include Hezbollah – a powerful Iran-backed Shia group – in a new government, he did not deny it.
But, he said: “They can’t force me to get rid of a party that represents at least a third of Lebanese.”
As Aoun’s interview was ending, protesters blocked several main roads across Lebanon, some with burning tyres.
In the Cola district near Beirut, dozens of men pelted stones at soldiers and a tank.
Linda Boulos Mikari, protesting on a road north of the capital, 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 told Reuters News Agency.
Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the site of the shooting in Khaldeh, said protesters were angry at Aoun’s speech, calling him “detached, provocative, [and] arrogant.”
“They are back on the roads, trying to block them as a way to keep the pressure on the government,” she said. “The message from the president last night was far more defiant than we heard him before.”
The man who was killed was a member of the Progressive Socialist Party led by Walid Jumblatt, a Druze leader. Jumblatt urged his supporters to remain calm during a visit to the hospital where the man had been taken.
The victim “succumbed to his injuries” in hospital, the National News Agency said.
The army said in a statement a soldier had opened fire to disperse protesters who were blocking a road in Khaldeh, wounding one person. The soldier had been detained and the incident was under investigation.
Aoun says no breakthrough reached
The escalation came after Aoun indicated in a TV interview that there had been no breakthrough in talks over forming a new government to replace Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s coalition cabinet.
Hariri, who resigned on October 29 in response to the huge protests, was hesitant about being prime minister again, he said.
Aoun also said a purely technocratic government, as demanded by many in the leaderless protest movement, would not be able to govern Lebanon and so it should include politicians.
Addressing protesters, 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.
Asked if he was facing pressure from outside Lebanon to not include Hezbollah – a powerful Iran-backed Shia group – in a new government, he did not deny it.
But, he said: “They can’t force me to get rid of a party that represents at least a third of Lebanese.”
As Aoun’s interview was ending, protesters blocked several main roads across Lebanon, some with burning tyres.
In the Cola district near Beirut, dozens of men pelted stones at soldiers and a tank.
Linda Boulos Mikari, protesting on a road north of the capital, 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 told Reuters News Agency.
Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from the site of the shooting in Khaldeh, said protesters were angry at Aoun’s speech, calling him “detached, provocative, [and] arrogant.”
“They are back on the roads, trying to block them as a way to keep the pressure on the government,” she said. “The message from the president last night was far more defiant than we heard him before.”
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