Beirut, Mar. 22, (dpa/GNA) – Retired army personnel joined other outraged Lebanese people to protest in Beirut against the worsening political and economic crises in the country amid a plunge in the local pound.
Anti-riot police fired tear gas to prevent some protesters from breaching barbed wire barriers around the parliament and government headquarters in central Beirut on Wednesday.
At least protestor and one policeman were injured in the violence, witnesses said.
Protesters fumed with anger at the cost-of-living situation and expressed pessimism that things would get better any time soon.
“We are barely meeting the needs of our families,” one protester said. “My salary is barely 30 dollars a month, while our leaders are vacationing in Europe,” he said.
“Everything has collapsed in this country. People are starving and no solution appears to be coming in the near future,” another protester told dpa.
Protesters shouted anti-government slogans and accused the Lebanese leaders of corruption and embezzling the people’s deposits kept in banks amid curbs on cash withdrawals.
Demonstrators briefly blocked roads in several parts of Lebanon.
All state employees, including army and police personnel, get paid in the Lebanese pounds while supermarkets, medicines and other goods are now being priced in the dollar.
The Lebanese pound lost more than 15% of its value against the dollar on Tuesday alone.
The currency rallied a bit on Wednesday, registering 110,000 pounds against 1 dollar.
After years of economic turmoil, poverty in Lebanon has drastically increased and now affects more than 74% of the population, according to a recent UN report.
The financial crisis has been compounded by the failure of the Lebanese parliament to elect a head of state since the term of former president Michel Aoun ended in October.
GNA