In protest against the government, demonstrators in Lebanon have built massive roadblocks. Hundreds of crisscrossed vehicles blocked the main highway in the country on the north-south route and other roads. With sit-ins and barricades demonstrators also blocked other traffic arteries.
For eleven days, the protest movement has paralyzed public life in Lebanon. The protesters demand a complete replacement of the government. (Read more about the protests here.) Political concessions by Prime Minister Saad Hariri have so far failed to stem the protests.
It was expected that the security forces would make another attempt to expel the demonstrators from the streets. At the weekend, the military had failed with the dissolution of the blockades at the resistance of the demonstrators.
Among the demonstrators: representatives of all religious groups
The protest movement in Lebanon has been mobilizing representatives of all religions and age groups for days. On Sunday, tens of thousands of Lebanese took part in a 170-kilometer-long human chain across the country. Around 100,000 men, women and children held hands from Tripoli in the north to Tyros in the south.
The protests had ignited on 17 October on the announcement of the government to tax WhatsApp calls. Meanwhile, however, they are generally against corruption, mismanagement and the country's elites, who have failed to improve people's lives in the 30 years since the end of the civil war.
