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Roadblocks Continue in Lebanon as Protesters Demand Political Change

By Dale Gavlak October 31, 2019

Lebanese citizens demanding political change are maintaining their roadblocks across the tiny Mediterranean country, only allowing security and medical personnel through, as the demonstrations entered a third week.

Protesters are standing in rare national unity, blaming the political establishment for rampant corruption and poor public services. They are also demanding a complete overhaul of Lebanon's sectarian-based politics.

Jordanian political analyst Labib Kamhawi says the widespread discontent among Lebanese citizens and their demands to end the entire structure of governance have been expected for some time, and now the Lebanese – be they Christian, Sunni Muslim, Shi'ite or Druze – say they have had enough.

"The continuous deterioration in all aspects of life, including environmental issues, rampant corruption, the garbage issue a couple of years ago, now the fires that hit Lebanon and destroyed a good lot of its greenery, unfair taxation introduced by the draft budget, which was canceled, created a feeling amongst Lebanese that they are all in the same boat and a general conviction that they cannot trust the political status quo," Kamhawi said. "All of these guys are corrupt, and they have to go. This prosperous nation has become really poor."

Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned earlier in the week, a key demand of protesters that followed the destruction of their tents by Shi'ite Hezbollah forces, but President Michel Aoun has asked him to stay on as a caretaker prime minister. In Lebanon's delicate religious mosaic, where the president is a Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shi'ite, some believe that Hariri might lead a technocratic administration to address the financial crisis and meet protester demands.

But Maha Yahya, who heads the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, doesn't see that happening. Protesters, she said, do not accept it, adding that Hariri is in a "standoff with Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah." She said that "without the full support of Lebanon's political class … any government could be doomed."

Kamhawi says that now that the Lebanese are unified in their revolt, without reference to their religious affiliations, they will likely demand a new political system and will not accept Aoun as president.

"A new system has to be rebuilt as a Lebanese system and not as a confessional system," Kamhawi said. "If Aoun feels that he has to leave, he might entrust the formation of the government to the head of the army and he will be serving as acting president. The government headed by the military could oversee a new referendum or a new constitution. It could happen. I don't see any other way out, if they insist that Aoun should resign."

Analysts say that Lebanon faces a looming financial and economic crisis.

"If there is an economic collapse and the Lebanese pound loses value," Yahya said, "the fallout, in terms of public anger, could pale in comparison to what we've seen so far."

Lebanon is $86 billion in debt, which accounts for 150 percent of its gross domestic product.