Hundreds Rally at Martyrs Square to Urge Political Transition

Hundreds of protesters rallied Friday at Beirut’s Martyrs Square at the invitation of a grouping of retired servicemen and the Citizens in a State group.

Slamming the “government of impotence and no-decision,” the demonstrators stressed that “the alternative exists,” demanding the formation of “a transitional government with extraordinary jurisdiction.”

They said such a government should not contain shares for political parties and that it should not be a military nor a technocrat government.

“We are in a permanent revolution due to the political situation which has led to the dire economic situation,” MP Chamel Roukoz, who is a retired general and a son-in-law of President Michel Aoun, told reporters at the demo.

“We are demanding a government with extraordinary jurisdiction to rescue the country socially and economically, and until now the government has failed and its only achievement is containing coronavirus. It has no other achievements and it is not a productive government,” Roukoz added.

Ex-minister Charbel Nahhas, the leader of the Citizens in a State group, meanwhile said that protesters are “demanding negotiations on a peaceful political transition of power.”

“We need a civil state that deals with the society as a society and with foreign powers as foreign powers,” Nahhas added.

“We are working night and day to propose an alternative and impose a balance of power,” he went on to say.

“The entire system has fallen with this government. Let them resign.”