BEIRUT – Thousands of Lebanese protesters blocked main roads around the country with rubble and burning tyres yesterday at the start of a general strike called by the opposition to try to topple the Western-backed government.
Demonstrators barricaded the road to Lebanon’s only international airport and to the sea port. Security sources said a gunman fired on protesters in the ancient Christian town of Byblos, wounding three people before being arrested by soldiers.”This government only understands force and today is only a small lesson,” protester Jamil Wahb told Reuters in a southern, mostly Shi’ite suburb.”We will stay here until they give in.”Organisers of Syrian-backed Hezbollah, their faces covered in black masks, prowled on motorcycles, walkie-talkies clamped to their mouths.One Christian leader described the protests as tantamount to a coup attempt.The strike escalates a campaign by the Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah-led opposition to dislodge the government, install a new unity administration and hold early parliamentary elections.Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has shrugged off the demands and announced a major economic reform plan ahead of Thursday’s Paris international donor conference which the government hopes will yield billions of dollars for Lebanon’s debt-laden economy.Officials said Siniora, who had been scheduled to leave for Paris on Tuesday, was following developments from his office in downtown Beirut.They did not say if he would fly out or how.Scuffles broke out between protesters and pro-government loyalists, especially in Christian areas.Lebanese soldiers fired into the air to keep rival Christian crowds apart on a key highway north of Beirut.Lebanon is still recovering from a devastating sectarian civil war in 1975-1990.The roads to Beirut international airport were blocked and several Arab and international airlines suspended flights to Beirut, though the national flag carrier Middle East Airlines made no announcement on its plans.The airport remained operational, but few workers showed up and passengers were unable to get there or to leave, airport sources said.Two protesters were wounded in a shooting in Batroun.A member of a pro-Syrian opposition group was seriously wounded in an incident near the mountain village of Sofar.Most main roads inside Beirut and leading into the city were closed, as were highways linking the capital to north and south Lebanon and to the Syrian capital Damascus.Nampa-ReutersSecurity sources said a gunman fired on protesters in the ancient Christian town of Byblos, wounding three people before being arrested by soldiers.”This government only understands force and today is only a small lesson,” protester Jamil Wahb told Reuters in a southern, mostly Shi’ite suburb.”We will stay here until they give in.”Organisers of Syrian-backed Hezbollah, their faces covered in black masks, prowled on motorcycles, walkie-talkies clamped to their mouths.One Christian leader described the protests as tantamount to a coup attempt.The strike escalates a campaign by the Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah-led opposition to dislodge the government, install a new unity administration and hold early parliamentary elections.Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has shrugged off the demands and announced a major economic reform plan ahead of Thursday’s Paris international donor conference which the government hopes will yield billions of dollars for Lebanon’s debt-laden economy.Officials said Siniora, who had been scheduled to leave for Paris on Tuesday, was following developments from his office in downtown Beirut.They did not say if he would fly out or how.Scuffles broke out between protesters and pro-government loyalists, especially in Christian areas.Lebanese soldiers fired into the air to keep rival Christian crowds apart on a key highway north of Beirut.Lebanon is still recovering from a devastating sectarian civil war in 1975-1990.The roads to Beirut international airport were blocked and several Arab and international airlines suspended flights to Beirut, though the national flag carrier Middle East Airlines made no announcement on its plans.The airport remained operational, but few workers showed up and passengers were unable to get there or to leave, airport sources said.Two protesters were wounded in a shooting in Batroun.A member of a pro-Syrian opposition group was seriously wounded in an incident near the mountain village of Sofar.Most main roads inside Beirut and leading into the city were closed, as were highways linking the capital to north and south Lebanon and to the Syrian capital Damascus.Nampa-Reuters
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