Crowds gather for anti-govt protest in Beirut
Source: Reuters
BEIRUT, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Lebanese gathered around a heavily guarded government building in Beirut on Tuesday for a sit-in to protest the government's economic reform programme. Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition has backed the sit-in outside a Finance Ministry office which was called by the main labour union and said it signalled an escalation of a 40-day campaign to topple Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Hundreds of soldiers and police cordoned off the building housing the VAT office of the Finance Ministry near Beirut's Museum as protesters began arriving to adjacent streets, choking off traffic in a key area of the Lebanese capital. Organisers made up their own cordon between demonstrators and the barriers in an apparent attempt to ensure there would be no friction with riot police. Protesters have camped outside the offices of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in central Beirut since Dec. 1 in an opposition campaign to topple the government, but Siniora, who is backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, has resisted the opposition's demands. Last week, the government unveiled economic reforms to be presented to an international donors' conference in Paris this month which Beirut hopes will bring financial help to an economy reeling from the July-August war with Israel. The reform plan included tax reforms, as well as raising VAT rates. The main labour union rejected the tax increases as well as privatisation efforts which it says would take away workers' rights. The reforms, which aim to boost economic growth and ease the burden of Lebanon's massive public debt, will be presented at the Jan. 25 "Paris 3" conference. The opposition said on Monday it would organise daily protests outside government building and other public facilities until Siniora gives in to its demands for a decisive say in a national unity government, or call early elections. Siniora's allies, grouped in an anti-Syrian coalition that has a majority in parliament, have said Hezbollah's latest move was aimed at sabotaging the economy to the benefit of Syria. The Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, is the driving force of the opposition, which also includes Christian and some Druze and Sunni figures.
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