The anger of the demonstrators does not weaken in Lebanon. New protest rallies took place on Friday evening June 12 against the wait-and-see attitude of the public authorities in the face of the country's economic sinking.

In Tripoli, the big city in the north of the country, the army dispersed on the main square hundreds of demonstrators who shouted "revolution, revolution", triggering clashes, according to an AFP correspondent on the spot. Protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at soldiers, and damaged facades of shops and banks. The soldiers retaliated with tear gas.

"I just want a job to live (...) We don't believe in the measures taken by the government," said Waël, 17. In central Beirut, dozens of young people also set fire to shops, an AFP correspondent said. They were dispersed with tear gas. 

"We in Dahiyeh too are hungry (...) We are starting to no longer be able to buy bread," said Mehanna, 25, from a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut.

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The gradual collapse of the Lebanese pound was accompanied by an explosion of inflation, not to mention business closings and mass layoffs, a crisis aggravated by the containment measures adopted for two months against the Covid-19.

Historical dollar exchange rate for Lebanese pound

The economic stagnation, added to a shortage of dollars - currency commonly used in Lebanon -, was one of the catalysts of an unprecedented uprising launched in October 2019 to denounce a political class almost unchanged for decades, accused of corruption and 'incompetence.

On the night of Thursday to Friday, the Lebanese had already taken to the streets. In their sights: the governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salamé, criticized for his inability to stop the depreciation. But also the government of Hassan Diab.

During an "urgent meeting" of the government, President Michel Aoun announced the establishment of a mechanism to ensure "the injection of dollars into the market by the Bank of Lebanon", believing that this "should make it possible to gradually decrease the exchange rate ", according to his services.

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The head of parliament, Nabih Berri, spoke of measures taken to bring the exchange rate below 4,000 pounds for one dollar. Similar announcements were made by the authorities in late May but have had no effect.

The Lebanese pound has been trading since Thursday at a historic rate of 5,000 pounds for the dollar, according to money changers. Officially, the Lebanese pound has been indexed since 1997 on the greenback at the fixed rate of 1,507 pounds for one dollar.

"It is impossible for the dollar or any other currency to leap to this point in a few hours," said Michel Aoun, referring to a "plot".

A backstage political battle

In a Lebanon accustomed to the tensions between parties, observers wonder about the political game behind the scenes.

Riad Salamé is engaged in a new showdown with the government and, according to experts, the powerful armed Shiite movement Hezbollah, which dominates politics, seeks to oust it. "Riad Salamé, Game Over", headlined the daily Al-Akhbar, close to Hezbollah.

In addition, supporters of the Shiite movement, usually hostile to the protest, joined the night rallies. "Hezbollah is seeking to change the governor of the Central Bank," said political scientist Imad Salamey, however, citing the presence of other parties, including civil society, who "are demonstrating to bring down the government."

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The governor of the Central Bank is criticized by the demonstrators for financial policies which favored an excessive indebtedness of the State, with the profit, they say, politicians and banks.

The banks, they, provoked the ire of the population after having imposed draconian restrictions on withdrawals in dollars or transfers abroad in the face of the shortage of green notes.

Currently, unemployment in Lebanon affects more than 35% of the working population, and more than 45% of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the Ministry of Finance. The authorities are negotiating with the International Monetary Fund to release financial aid, conditional on the adoption of reforms long ignored by the authorities.

With AFP

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