Lebanon .. Clashes between the security forces and protesters sit in the vicinity of Parliament

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Beirut reported that clashes erupted between riot police and the parliament’s police, and between a number of protesters who were protesting in the vicinity of Parliament.

The correspondent added that the riot police and the House of Representatives police broke up a sit-in for the Popular Movement in a street leading to Parliament.

The Minister of Interior in the caretaker government, Raya Al-Hassan, said that those whom she described as infiltrators had created problems with the elements in charge of protecting the House of Representatives.

In a press statement, the minister called on peaceful demonstrators to leave the streets of downtown Beirut, because there is a plan to be created by Mendesin, she said. The security forces also called those whom it described as peaceful demonstrators to stay away from the location of the clashes in the center of Beirut.

On the other hand, a number of activists in the popular movement said that they were surprised that they were hit by tear gas during their peaceful sit-in.

These developments come hours before parliamentary consultations scheduled on Monday to nominate a prime minister to form a new government.

And wounded - including protesters and security forces - fell during clashes between security forces and protesters near the Riad al-Solh and Najma squares in the center of the Lebanese capital, last Saturday night.

Clashes also broke out between the security forces and supporters of Hezbollah and Amal, who stormed the Martyrs Square in central Beirut on Saturday, to attack protesters demanding the formation of a technocratic government.

Hezbollah and Amal are partners in the Saad Hariri government, which protesters forced to resign on October 29.

The name Hariri, head of the caretaker government, returned to the front of the consultations, after he had earlier apologized for not running for the formation of the government, in light of his insistence to form a government of technocrats to meet the demand of the protesters.

The protesters insist a government of technocrats able to address the political and economic situation in a country experiencing the worst economic crisis since the civil war between 1975 and 1990.

On the other hand, other parties - including President Michel Aoun, the Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement - want to form a hybrid government of politicians and specialists.

The protesters also demand early parliamentary elections, the recovery of looted money, and the departure and accountability of the rest of the ruling class, who accuse them of corruption and incompetence.

The protests began on October 17, against the backdrop of the difficult economic situation, and aimed to hold accountable what the protesters describe as corrupt within the authority, and to recover the looted money.