Commenting on the nomination of Safadi .. Lebanese protesters: Do you mock us?

Leaks over the possibility of assigning a former minister to the premiership have ridiculed the demonstrators who have been demanding in their movement for nearly a month to bring down the entire political class, accusing it of corruption and the inability to resolve the living crises.

According to local media and sources close to the government, an agreement was reached between the caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the Free Patriotic Movement led by President Michel Aoun and Hezbollah and Amal Movement to nominate former Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi (75 years) as the new government.

The reports quickly angered the protesters on the street and on social media, accusing the authorities of not taking them seriously.

Activists carried pictures of Safadi saying: "Are you mocking us?" Dozens demonstrated at night in Beirut and Tripoli (north) in protest.

According to Agence France-Presse, university professor Samer Anous that Safadi "is an essential part of the composition of this authority, and is directly involved in corruption and assault on marine property," adding "Safadi does not meet the aspirations of the popular uprising."

Mobility
On Friday, demonstrators re-blocked roads in some areas, and dozens of people staged a sit-in in front of a Beirut police station to protest the arrest of two activists before being released.

Several hospitals on Friday carried out a partial one-day strike in which only emergency cases were received in response to a cautionary measure taken to press for easier access to the US dollar to buy medical supplies as the country is in a choking liquidity crisis.

The Union of Bank Employees Syndicates called on all bank employees to continue the strike and to stop working on Saturday.

He pointed out that this invitation is valid unless the Association of Banks in Lebanon is notified of its proposals on security measures to be applied at the duty stations.

Security forces reopened several roads that were blocked by the protesters at dawn today in a number of areas, while protesters continue to close roads in the northern governorates and Bekaa, demanding the departure of the ruling political class.

Aya Majzoub, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said that the Lebanese authorities are using defamation laws to imprison people and silence critics.

In a press conference held in Beirut on the criminalization of peaceful expression, she added that politicians are using libel laws to intimidate their critics, who today demand accountability for corrupt people.

Consultations
In the meantime, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the caretaker government Gibran Bassil to hold parliamentary consultations binding to appoint a new prime minister next Monday if things go as it should, as he described.

Bassil added that MP Mohammed Safadi expressed his agreement to assume the premiership in case he received the approval of the main political forces.

The minister also said it is likely that the formation of the government will not take long because the main political forces are convinced of the need to speed up its formation.

For his part, said President Michel Aoun, who was calling for a government "technocratic" in a tweet on Twitter that addressing the causes of popular movements will be the first concerns of the next government.

Safadi is considered close to Aoun, Bassil and Hariri, and the Harak accuses him of being one of the financiers who took control of areas of marine property in Beirut and the northern coast.