Protesters block roads across Lebanon as currency hits new low

Demonstrators have blocked roads across Lebanon to protest against the country’s economic meltdown, days after the
Lebanese pound sank to new lows.

Roads were blocked with burning tyres, set ablaze by protesters, in central Beirut,
Tripoli in northern Lebanon and the southern city of Sidon on Monday.

According to the country’s National News Agency roads in Cola, Kaskas, Corniche al Mazraa, Barbir, and Saeb Salam were obstructed.

Protesters also closed main highways including one leading to Beirut’s international airport, it said citing Lebanon’s Traffic Management Center.

Photos showed Lebanese army soldier working to extinguish fires and open the roads back up.

Roads were shut off over the weekend as well, as people took to the streets to protest against continuing deterioration of living conditions.

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Economic crisis continues

Lebanon’s economic crisis, which erupted in 2019, has propelled more than three quarters of the population into poverty and the local currency has plummeted by over 90 percent.

The Lebanese pound sank to more than 25,000 against the dollar last week, from a peg in 2019 of 1,500.

There has been little progress since Prime Minister Najib
Mikati’s government was appointed in September after more than a
year of political deadlock that compounded the crisis.

Mikati’s government has been in paralysis since a row over
the lead investigator into a fatal explosion at Beirut port last
year flared during a cabinet meeting on October 12. 

The cabinet has
not met since then.

Subsidies have been cut back on almost all goods including
fuel and medicine, pushing up prices as basic services such as
healthcare crumble.

The cabinet’s main focus was on a revival of talks with the
International Monetary Fund, needed to unlock foreign aid. 

But an agreement on vital financial figures, a requirement to start negotiations, has not been reached.

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