Lebanon opposition calls general strike next week
Source: Reuters
By Nadim Ladki BEIRUT, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Lebanon's opposition, stepping up a campaign to oust the government, called on Saturday for a general strike next week aimed at paralysing the country two days before a vital aid conference in Paris. The opposition, which includes the Shi'ite Muslim groups Hezbollah and Amal and Christian leader Michel Aoun, has been demanding veto power in the government and early parliamentary elections. "The national opposition has no choice but to resort one more time to its popular base to seek an escalation of its peaceful and democratic protest," it said in a statement. "It calls on the Lebanese to express freely and sincerely their national and political options through a general strike and complete shutdown across the country on Tuesday." Opposition sources said the aim of the strike was to paralyse the country, including key public facilities such as the only civilian airport and Beirut's seaport. The main labour union, which opposes the government's economic policy, backed the call. The strike would come two days before an international donor conference in Paris, which Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora hopes will bring billions of dollars of aid to an economy reeling from Hezbollah's July-August war with Israel and a public debt of $41.5 billion, or 190 percent of GDP. "STRONG PUSH" Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose group is backed by Syria and Iran, said on Friday night the strike would give the opposition "a strong push". The opposition has been camped outside Siniora's offices in central Beirut since Dec. 1 to press its demands for more say in a government that Hezbollah says is controlled by Washington. Siniora has resisted the opposition demands and instead pressed on with plans for the Paris conference, which U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to attend. The opposition says Siniora's cabinet was stripped of legitimacy by the resignation of its Shi'ite Muslim ministers in November when talks over expanding the government collapsed. Government posts are divided among Lebanon's array of religious communities. The crisis has raised sectarian tensions, especially between Sunnis and Shi'ites, who back the rival camps. The politicians who control government say the opposition is trying to mount a coup that they say would give Syria and Iran more influence. Syrian troops were forced out of Lebanon in 2005 by international pressure and mass protests triggered by the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. Many Lebanese blamed Syria for his death but Syria denies involvement.
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