Protests as Mikati holds surprise Cabinet session, accuses retired servicemen of 'coup'

Retired servicemen on Wednesday blocked roads around the Grand Serail as well as the nearby Ring highway and roads in the Bekaa and North, after caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati convened a surprise Cabinet session in an apparent bid to avoid the retirees’ protests.

The retired servicemen had managed to prevent the caretaker Cabinet from convening on Tuesday after they blocked the roads leading to the Grand Serail.

The retirees burned also burned tires outside Mikati’s residences in downtown Beirut and Tripoli on Wednesday. In Beirut, tear gas fired at the protesters reached restaurants at the posh Zaitunay Bay seaside promenade.

Speaking at the beginning of the Cabinet session, Mikati said he called for the meeting because “people’s interests and the country’s administration and interest are above all considerations.”

After the eruption of the protests, Mikati’s office issued a statement accusing the retired servicemen of “deciding to stage a coup against the state and the Council of Ministers institution and to impose total paralysis in the country.”

The statement also noted that Mikati had announced at the start of the session that the government would “take essential steps and decisions related to the rights of the public sector employees” in its discussion of the 2025 draft state budget.

The retired servicemen had on Tuesday announced that they would not halt their protests until the government puts the “correction of wages” on the top of its agenda.

They also demanded the approval of their demands, calling on the government to secure funds through “combating waste and corruption and imposing fees on seaside properties” instead of “slapping further taxes on the poor under the excuse of funding the state budget.”