Lebanon .. Parliament passes the 2020 budget on the impact of demonstrations and confrontations

The Lebanese parliament passed a budget in 2020 with a majority of 49 votes, 13 deputies objecting, and eight abstentions, and the vicinity of the parliament witnessed the presence of dozens of demonstrators waiting for the departures.

76 out of 128 deputies participated in this session, while a number of independent deputies boycotted it, in addition to the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb Party blocs.

And downtown Beirut has witnessed confrontations between the security forces and dozens of protesters over the convening of a parliament session to discuss and approve the budget.

The Red Cross announced that its medical teams had taken eight wounded to hospitals and treated 19 field people during these confrontations.

And activists of the popular movement had issued calls to close roads in Beirut and the regions, to prevent MPs from reaching parliament, at a time when the army prevented dozens of protesters from reaching the vicinity of Parliament, and prevented them from closing a number of roads leading to it.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Beirut, Ihab Al-Aqdi, said that a limited number of protesters remained near the Parliament and Martyrs' Square, pending the departure of the deputies after spending long hours in this place amid tight security measures.

The correspondent added that the protesters considered the political forces participating in the parliament session to be illegitimate, as their popularity had fallen since the start of the demonstrations on October 17.

He continued that the protesters see that these forces have reproduced authority and approved a budget that a government previously approved and then resigned, stressing that the authority that exacerbated the living and economic conditions is not entrusted with public affairs at this stage, and that this budget does not meet their aspirations for economic and financial reform.

Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that the army continued to reinforce its security measures in the vicinity of Parliament since the early morning hours, in addition to the riot police that surrounded the entrances to Parliament.

According to the budget approved today, it is expected that the deficit will be in the range of 7%, up from the 0.6% expected by the original version of a project submitted by the Saad Hariri government that resigned last October.

Although the new government - described by its president as an independent government of professionals - has pledged to listen to the demands of protesters calling for deep reforms, it faces rejection from the popular movement, which he sees as a front for political forces.