Lebanon postpones talks on new PM after weekend of violent clashes with protesters

President had been expected to select former prime minister Saad Hariri to lead new government

Lebanon has postponed talks to name a new prime minister following a weekend of violent clashes with anti-government demonstrators in the capital Beirut.

Some 200 people were injured as security forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons in some of the worst clashes since a nationwide uprising against the country’s ruling political elite began in October.

Sunday night again saw thousands take to the streets, met by large numbers of riot police. Security officials said the forces were obliged to open fire with tear gas after they were pelted with fireworks and stones.

Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, announced that consultations with political blocs to name a new prime minister, due to take place on Monday, have been postponed until Thursday.

The move will probably deepen the deadlock sparked by the massive protests, which first broke out two months ago against a dire financial crisis caused by Lebanon’s corrupt and entrenched civil war-era political system.

With the economy floundering, postponing attempts to find a political solution represents “a risky hazard, both for the politicians but even more so for the people”, said Jan Kubis, the UN’s special coordinator for Lebanon.

President Aoun was expected to name the current caretaker prime minister Saad Hariri, who resigned from the post on 29 October, to assume the post again at the head of a government that would include technocrats.

But protesters opposed to such a move turned out in force on Saturday, prompting the violent clashes seen in downtown Beirut.

Demonstrators have instead called for a complete overhaul of Lebanon’s sectarian political system, starting with the introduction of a fully technocratic government.

In a phone call with President Aoun, Mr Hariri requested a delay to Monday’s talks to allow “more consultation on the subject of the government formation”, the presidency said in a statement.

The Lebanese Civil Defence said it transferred 20 injured people to hospitals and treated more than 70 protesters on site on Sunday. The Lebanese army said nine troops were wounded.

Earlier, confrontations overnight between Saturday and Sunday, left more than 130 people injured in Beirut, according to the Red Cross and the Lebanese Civil Defence. The Red Cross said none of the injured were in serious condition and most of them were treated on the spot.

Huge protests erupted across the country in October after the government announced a tax on the popular messaging service WhatsApp – a proposal that was quickly cancelled. But the deeper causes of the protests have been building for years.

Decades of widespread corruption and economic mismanagement by Lebanon’s leaders have brought it to the brink of financial collapse. It is one of the most indebted countries in the world, jobs are scarce, prices are rising and basic services such as electricity and water are intermittent.

Previous outbreaks of unrest in Lebanon have tended to be party political. This time, however, protesters are demanding a complete overhaul of the country’s political system, calling for an end to the sectarian, civil war-era parties that have held on to power through clientelism and gerrymandering.

Across the country, protesters are expressing anger at the failures of all party leaders. “All of them means all of them,” is a popular refrain on the streets.

But the protesters have come up against opposition from supporters of those leaders – particularly the Shia parties Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal movement.

Supporters of Amal, which is led by parliament speaker Nabih Berri, have frequently attacked protesters and their encampments in downtown Beirut. On Sunday evening they again streamed into the city’s downtown and clashed with protesters, before they were separated by the Lebanese army.

The interior minister, Raya Haffar El Hassan, called on Sunday for a “rapid and transparent” investigation into the preceding night’s violence, which saw police accused of using excessive force.

But she also warned the protest movement to be cautious of “infiltrators” seeking to “exploit their rightful demonstrations [and] ignite violent confrontations... for the sake of a political agenda”.

Additional reporting by agencies