- Title: Lebanon's most senior Christian cleric steps into crisis
- Date: 23rd October 2019
- Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (OCTOBER 23, 2019) (REUTERS) PROTESTERS GATHERING AND BLOCKING MAIN ROAD VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SETTING UP TENTS TO BLOCK MAIN ROAD (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) PROTESTER, MANALE GHANEM, SAYING: "Everything the political class is doing now is clearly to buy time, what they are doing in the protests is known, from the impolite people to those trying to make violence. The reform list that the government presented is clearly, according to economy experts, a lie. So, today the demand is for the government to fall." VARIOUS OF TENT ACTING AS ROAD BLOCK (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) PROTESTER, MANALE GHANEM, SAYING: "We want to get an interim government that holds early elections, this is the first thing. Second, to everyone: they succeed if they make us stop, but we shouldn't; we need to stay in the streets, to stay strong." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GATHERING AND BLOCKING ROADS WITH TENTS AND BINS WITH POLES ON THEM
- Embargoed: 6th November 2019 16:44
- Keywords: Lebanon protests Christian crisis Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai
- Location: BEIRUT AND BKERKI, LEBANON
- City: BEIRUT AND BKERKI, LEBANON
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA003B2BKABR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Lebanon's highest Christian authority called on Wednesday (October 23) for a change in government to include qualified technocrats and urged the president to begin talks to address the demands of demonstrators in the streets for a seventh day.
Throwing his weight behind demands for at least some change in government, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai was the first major religious figure to wade into the crisis.
Flag-waving protesters kept roads blocked with vehicles and makeshift barricades for a seventh day on Wednesday. Banks have been closed since Friday (October 18) and will remain shut on Thursday (October 24), the banking association said. Schools are also closed.
With a population of 6 million people, Lebanon has been swept by unprecedented protests against a political elite blamed for a deep economic crisis.
(Production: Ahmad El Kerdi, Karamallah Daher, Alaa Kanaan, Yara Abi Nader, Louisa Naks) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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