Protest-hit Lebanon assembly postpones session citing security
Lebanon’s parliament, besieged by protesters, said
Tuesday it had indefinitely postponed a session that had been due to discuss
controversial draft laws.
“The session has been postponed to a date to be
determined later,” said parliament official Adnane Daher, reading a statement
in front of television cameras, citing “exceptional conditions, in particular
security conditions.”
Lebanese protesters began gathering on Tuesday
morning around the parliament in Beirut, where the legislative session was
scheduled, to block lawmakers from reaching the building amid tight security
measures, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.
Banks were set to reopen for the first time in a
week after announcing temporary steps, such as a weekly cap of $1,000 on
withdrawals of hard currency and transfers abroad limited to urgent personal
expenses, in moves to prevent capital flight.
A month after the start of nationwide protests,
Lebanon is in serious political and economic crisis with no indication of its
leaders agreeing on a new government to replace the outgoing cabinet of Saad
al-Hariri, who quit as premier on October 29.
Near parliament, riot police scuffled with a group
of protesters who were trying to use a cable to remove a barbed wire barricade
blocking a road, a Reuters witness said.
The protests have been fueled by perceptions of
corruption among the sectarian politicians who have governed Lebanon for
decades and are blamed for leading the country into its worst economic crisis
since the 1975-90 civil war.
