Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab accused his opponents today of deepening the currency crisis in the country and inciting unrest as the protests caused by a new sharp depreciation entered the third day.
Protesters demonstrated in the streets on Thursday after new devaluations of the currency during the past week, amid escalating anger over the government's inability to contain the economic crisis, which severely damaged living conditions.
The lira has lost about 70 percent of its value since October when the country sank heavily to the city in a financial crisis that caused price hikes, job cuts and restrictions on exchange of dollar deposits, freezing savings accounts in that currency.
The lira, which had an exchange rate of five thousand against the dollar, rose on Friday, after a government announcement of the Central Bank of Lebanon pumping dollars into the market on Monday.
Diab said in a televised speech today that political opponents are seeking to undermine the government's efforts to investigate corruption cases and that they have sparked the recent unrest.
Diab said: “Today we are here, amid this financial and living concern, some have tried to invest again, without any national deterrent. They pumped lies and rumors and contributed to the deepening of the Lebanese pound crisis, and caused a major crisis, and pushed people onto the street.
Diab did not identify the opponents who he accused of inciting the unrest. Diab took office in January with support from the powerful pro-Iranian Hezbollah group.
The protesters returned to the streets across the country today, demonstrating in Beirut, Tripoli in the north, and Sidon in the south, and many of them demanded the government to resign.
The renewed turmoil could complicate Lebanon's ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund on a reform program that it hopes will allow it to access billions of dollars in financing and start an economic recovery.