Tension is high around the Lebanese Parliament on Tuesday, 19 November. Fighting broke out early in the morning between riot police and a group of protesters trying to remove a barrage of barbed wire, shots were fired and two official cars were forced to turn around near Parliament . Consequence: the exceptional parliamentary session has been postponed indefinitely.
"The meeting has been postponed to a date to be determined later," said a Parliament official, Adnane Daher, reading a statement in front of television cameras. He mentioned the lack of a quorum and "the current exceptional conditions, in particular security". The examination of a series of laws was planned, including that on a general amnesty.
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Originally scheduled for 11 November, the session had already been postponed for security reasons.
The protesters believe that this law could concern people convicted or suspected of involvement in tax evasion and environmental crimes. Four weeks after its launch, the protest movement - born in response to the government's plan to tax phone calls made from the WhatsApp app, a project abandoned since then - shows no signs of waning.
Protesters continue to demand the departure of the entire political class currently in power they accuse of plundering the economy of the country, which is experiencing its worst economic crisis since the civil war of the years 1975-1990.
With AFP and Reuters