Hundreds of people hit the streets of the Lebanese capital on Saturday to mark 100 days of anti-government demonstrations and denounce a new cabinet line-up. Protests demanding the removal of politicians deemed incompetent and corrupt have gripped Lebanon since October 17 and forced the resignation of the government.
A new cabinet was announced on Tuesday after a three-month vacuum. But protesters say the ministers were chosen along sectarian lines and that the line-up does not satisfy their demands for a government of independents and technocrats.
On Saturday, several marches were held in Beirut under the slogan "No trust", with protesters converging on the city centre. Demonstrators chanted "Revolution, Revolution" under the watchful gaze of security forces, who were deployed in high numbers.
The protest movement has largely been peaceful since it began more than three months ago, but has turned violent in recent weeks. "The government (formed on Tuesday) is not the one we have been seeking," demonstrator Perla Maalouli said in central Beirut.
Lebanon has one of the world's highest debt-to-GDP ratios and economists have argued it is hard to see how the near-bankrupt country could repay its creditors. The Lebanese pound has lost over a third of its value against the dollar in the parallel market and banks are tightening restrictions on dollar transactions amid a liquidity crunch.
Earlier Saturday, the new Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni met with a senior IMF official in Beirut, a day after holding talks with a World Bank delegation.
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