Beirut confrontations: the movement escalates and a security meeting to deter "saboteurs"

Afif Diab - Beirut

The security meeting - which was held in the Lebanese presidential palace - decided to take the necessary measures to prevent "attacks on public and private properties, deter sabotage groups and protect peaceful demonstrators" after the escalation of the confrontation between groups of the popular movement and security forces in more than one area in the capital Beirut.

The confrontations took place, especially on Al-Hamra Street, where activists targeted banks, and other confrontations took place near the parliament periphery in the center of the capital and the vicinity of one of the headquarters of the security forces in the Corniche of the farm, which resulted in dozens of wounded protesters and security forces as a result of stone throwing and the use of rubber bullets and tear gas.

Volume up
The clashes that required the political authority to hold its security meeting came, according to more than one group in the popular movement, after the authority's failure to form a national salvation government that works to quickly resolve the financial and economic crises ravaging the country.

Moreover, this escalation came in response to "the struggle of the power of the authorities to share the ministerial seats," he says to Al-Jazeera Net, an activist in the popular movement Sharif Suleiman.

He adds that the political authority ignores the demands of the movement since 95 days, considering that "the patience of the movement was long and waited a lot for the authority to form a government that meets the demands, and unfortunately it is related to the issue of sharing quotas."

The activist believes that the movement is not a party but rather a general popular situation. "The authority is deafening its ears, and therefore the voice had to be raised." He says that the title of the next stage is "Dancing on the edge of the abyss" and the authority cannot accuse the movement of sabotage - as he says - because the authority by rejecting and ignoring the right demands "is what works to sabotage and escalate the confrontation."

Escalation versus failure
The failure of "power forces" as described by political writer Saad Kiwan - in forming a government more than a month after Hassan Diab was commissioned to form it - led to this escalation in the street and "it is normal."

He adds to Al-Jazeera Net, "the popular uprising has exercised the utmost restraint for weeks and since its inception, and has proven its credibility in its demands, but the street has not heard the ears of the authority that is competing to share quotas, spoils and the country groaning from pain."

Kiwan believes that the escalation and high momentum that Lebanon witnessed in the violence was sometimes "expected, and there are those in power who tried to exploit the movement for its ends," expressing his belief that the "sabotage" that was recorded "harms the uprising somewhere."

Homogeneous and helpless
On the reasons for delaying the formation of the government, Kiwan says, "Our authority is unique in the world. The team entrusted with its formation, which is of one political color, is supposed to be homogeneous and stands helpless and unable to form a government. It is the one who chose its designated president."

He adds that these are indications of "the extent of the conflict between this team over the sharing of shares and the narrowing of its accounts," expressing his belief that the movement "will not accept a government dominated by the forces of power, for the primary demand is a government of rescue from independent specialists, not a government composed of the parties of power."

Objects rabbits
For his part, political analyst Michel Abu Najm believes that some of the forces supporting the president in charge of forming the government are unable to find solutions to the birth of the government.

He tells Al-Jazeera Net that the last days "rabbits" of protests from political and sectarian forces have appeared, which led to the delay in the birth of the government, which has to lay out a road map to solve the financial and economic crises.

He adds that the reaction of some of the movement’s groups and the escalation of the confrontation with the security forces in particular “does not benefit the right demands, because the tension will lead to chaos, and this is what no one wants in Lebanon.”

Abu Najm believes that there are many reasons that lead to an escalation of the protest movement, including the banks ’procedures and their restrictions on depositors and their deposits, pointing out that directing the movement to protest towards partner sectors in the crisis will lead to achieving its goals, not to be a clash with the security forces, considering that the ball is in The stadium of the president in charge of forming the government, "and he must reduce the conditions that he laid down and surrounded himself with."