Lebanese President Urges People to Accept Austerity Measures
BEIRUT (Dispatches) – President Michel Aoun called on the Lebanese people to sacrifice and contribute to the success of the austerity measures that will be taken in the 2019 state budget, the presidency's website reported.
"The economic situation is very difficult but we can overcome challenges," the president said.
Aoun said that people should sacrifice in a bid to protect Lebanon's economy, otherwise everybody will lose the country.
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil is expected to present the final figures of the 2019 budget later in the day.
The 2019 budget may include a reduction in salaries of public sector employees which triggered multiple demonstrations against such possible measures.
Thousands of people staged a nationwide strike on Monday to express their deep resentment at Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s pledge for "difficult and painful” reforms to control spending, and concerns about any pension or benefit cuts.
Public employees together with staffers from public and some private schools took part in the strike.
One protester sustained injuries and was taken to hospital after security forces clashed with a group of protesters outside the Grand Serail, which is the official headquarters of the prime minister and a few blocks away from Nijmeh Square, where parliament is located, in the capital Beirut.
Local Arabic-language MTV television network broadcast footage of riot police using a water cannon on the protesters.
"This government has chosen to disrespect our rights. ... There will be escalatory measures today, tomorrow and any place the budget goes,” an unnamed retired soldier told local LBCI television network.
Elsewhere in the southern city Nabatieh, more than 500 state employees in addition to public and private school teachers gathered in front of the Nadi al-Husseini religious center to take buses to Beirut and join in a mass protest.
"The economic situation is very difficult but we can overcome challenges," the president said.
Aoun said that people should sacrifice in a bid to protect Lebanon's economy, otherwise everybody will lose the country.
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil is expected to present the final figures of the 2019 budget later in the day.
The 2019 budget may include a reduction in salaries of public sector employees which triggered multiple demonstrations against such possible measures.
Thousands of people staged a nationwide strike on Monday to express their deep resentment at Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s pledge for "difficult and painful” reforms to control spending, and concerns about any pension or benefit cuts.
Public employees together with staffers from public and some private schools took part in the strike.
One protester sustained injuries and was taken to hospital after security forces clashed with a group of protesters outside the Grand Serail, which is the official headquarters of the prime minister and a few blocks away from Nijmeh Square, where parliament is located, in the capital Beirut.
Local Arabic-language MTV television network broadcast footage of riot police using a water cannon on the protesters.
"This government has chosen to disrespect our rights. ... There will be escalatory measures today, tomorrow and any place the budget goes,” an unnamed retired soldier told local LBCI television network.
Elsewhere in the southern city Nabatieh, more than 500 state employees in addition to public and private school teachers gathered in front of the Nadi al-Husseini religious center to take buses to Beirut and join in a mass protest.