Factbox: The reform plans agreed by Lebanese government amid massive protests

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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon’s government on Monday agreed a package of long-stalled reforms to try to ease an economic crisis and defuse the biggest protests against the ruling elite in decades. Demonstrators carry national flags during an anti-government protest in Tripoli, Lebanon October 21, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Ibrahim The cabinet also approved a 2020 state budget that does not impose any new taxes on individuals and aims for a deficit of 0.6% of GDP, down from a previous target of around 7%. Commercial banks and the central bank are set to contribute to the deficit cut with 5.1 trillion Lebanese pounds ($3.4 billion), including through a tax hike on bank profits. Under pressure, Hariri and top officials drew up the package at the weekend, as hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets to demand his government resigns.

by AP - Protesters remain despite Lebanese PM Saad Hariri’s reform package

Following a nearly five-hour Cabinet meeting, Hariri announced a series of economic and financial reforms which he described as a “coup,” saying no government in Lebanon’s history has taken such radical steps before. “The decisions that we made today might not fulfill your goals, but for certain it achieves what I have been seeking for two years,” Hariri told the protesters. “These decisions are not in exchange for anything. I am not going to ask you to stop protesting and stop expressing your anger. This is a decision that you take,” he added. Following his speech at the presidential palace, thousands of people gathered outside his office in downtown Beirut chanting: “The people want to bring down the regime,” and “Revolution, revolution!”

The protests have paralyzed the country for five days, with schools, universities, banks and other business shuttered. The protests are building on long-simmering anger at a ruling class that has divvied up power among themselves and amassed wealth for decades but has done little to fix a crumbling economy and dilapidated infrastructure. It was not clear how the situation would move forward, especially when the main political parties have all taken the position that the government should not resign.

Here is a list of the main plans the government agreed on:

1- A reduction of 1 trillion Lebanese pounds ($663 million) in the deficit in the power sector, which bleeds state funds while failing to meet the country’s needs. Hariri said on Friday that covering the deficit of the state-owned electricity company costs the treasury $2 billion a year.

2- Speeding up the process of awarding contracts for the construction of new power plants to complete it within four months

3- Plans to approve, within three weeks, the first phase of a capital investment program that donors have pledged to finance with $11 billion, on condition of reforms

4- A 50% cut in the salaries of current and former presidents, ministers, and lawmakers

5- Appointing regulatory bodies for the power sector, telecommunications, and civil aviation “as soon as possible”

6- Scrapping the information ministry immediately and a number of obsolete government bodies

7- Setting up scanners at border crossings to combat smuggling and toughening punishments for smugglers

8- Providing an additional 20 billion Lebanese pounds ($13.3 million) to a program that supports poor families

9- Providing $160 million to back housing loans

10- Approving social security benefits for seniors by the end of the year. It was not clear how much this would cost.

11- Passing a law to create a national body to fight corruption by the end of the year

12- Drafting a law that seeks to restore stolen public funds

13- A 70% cut in the budgets of the state-run Council for Development and Reconstruction, the Central Fund for the Displaced, and the Council for South Lebanon

14- Launching investment projects for the northern and southern entrances of the capital Beirut

15- Approving a general amnesty law by the end of the year

Compiled by Ellen Francis, Editing by William Maclean Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. MORE FROM REUTERS

Lebanese prime minister agrees to reform amid massive anti-corruption protests

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By Reuters -- BEIRUT — Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri agreed on Sunday a package of reforms with government partners to ease an economic crisis that has sparked protests aimed at ousting a ruling elite seen as riddled with corruption and cronyism. Officials told Reuters the agreement was reached as hundreds of thousands of protesters flooded the streets for a fourth day in the biggest show of dissent against the establishment in decades. A sea of people, some waving Lebanese flags, called for revolution in protests that resembled the 2011 Arab revolts that toppled four presidents. Hariri, who is leading a coalition government mired by sectarian and political rivalries, gave his feuding government partners a 72-hour deadline on Friday to agree reforms that could ward off crisis, hinting he may otherwise resign. Hariri accused his rivals of obstructing his reform measures that could unlock $11 billion in Western donor pledges and help avert economic collapse.

The reform decisions require a 50 percent reduction in salaries of current and former presidents, ministers and MPs plus cuts in benefits to state institutions and officials. It also obliges the central bank and private banks to contribute $3.3 billion to achieve a "near zero deficit" for the 2020 budget. It also includes a plan to privatize the telecommunications sector and an overhaul of the costly and crumbling electricity sector, which poses one of the biggest strains on the country's depleted finances. Government sources said Hariri's cabinet would meet at midday on Monday at the presidential palace to approve the reform package.

The anti-government protests, fueled by crippling economic conditions and anger at perceived government corruption, have fanned out across the country since Thursday. Cheerful, buoyant and hopeful their protests would bring change, people of all ages and religions played patriotic songs and danced in the streets, with some forming human chains and chanting for their leaders to be ousted. Festival-like scenes dominated the country from the capital Beirut to remote towns, with loudspeakers blaring music as crowds kept pouring into the streets. "I am here because I am disgusted by our politicians. Nothing works. This is not a state. Salaries are very low, prices are very high. We don't even have work these days," said Cherine Shawa, 32, an interior architect, in Beirut. Ending rampant corruption is a central demand of the protesters, who say the country's leaders have used their positions to enrich themselves for decades through favorable deals and kickbacks. "We're here to say to our leaders 'leave'. We have no hope in them but we're hopeful that these protests will bring change," Hanan Takkouche, in her 40s and among a group of women in the capital. "They came to fill their pockets. They're all crooks and thieves," she added.

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL BLASTS LEBANESE AUTHORITIES OVER EXCESSIVE FORCE AGAINST PROTESTERS

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by newsweek.com - JAMES CROWLEY -- Amnesty International has issued a demand to Lebanese forces that they cease the use of excessive force on peaceful protesters in Beirut. The human rights organization stated in a press release Saturday that Lebanon security forces were beating protesters, chasing them at gunpoint, and using large amounts of tear gas on crowds that had gathered in major cities to protest political corruption and call for economic and social reforms. Protests in Lebanon began in early October, with many moved to act by the country's growing economic crisis, trash pileup, and failing power grid. Security forces began to break up protesters, after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri gave his opponents 72 hours to find a solution to the country's economic crisis, as CNN reported. Many protesters have called for Hariri's removal. Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International's Middle East research director, said in the statement: "We call on the Lebanese authorities to respect the right of protesters to freedom of peaceful assembly and investigate the excessive use of tear gas as well as the beatings and harassment at gunpoint of protesters that took place last night."

She also remarked: "Promises by government officials to address protesters' grievances ring terribly hollow and deceitful when security forces are given free rein to prevent the Lebanese people from voicing their anger in what was until then a largely peaceful manner." Maalouf called the security force's actions not just an abuse of force, but also a violation of the people's right to a peaceful protest: "The intention was clearly to prevent protesters gathering – in a clear violation of the right to peaceful assembly." The organization reported several accounts of violence from protesters, including stones and tear gas bombs being thrown at protesters resting in tents Another protester told Amnesty International: "Army forces followed us and they started hitting and arresting whoever they laid hands on. We were all peaceful protesters. They were hitting people on their heads and bodies with their hands, rifles and batons," following the entrance of army vehicles to evacuate the area.

According to Amnesty International, over 60 protesters were hospitalized and 70 were arrested, despite the protest being peaceful prior to authorities' use of excessive force. Maalouf stated that authorities must aim to "reduce tension" rather than exercise force. She also demanded an investigation into the authorities that used excessive force against the protesters. "The authorities must also signal their commitment to respecting peaceful protest by immediately and effectively investigating all report arbitrary and abusive force against protesters and allegations of ill-treatment of those arrested."

Geagea Announces LF's Resignation from Government

by Naharnet -- The Lebanese Forces quit Lebanon's coalition government Saturday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets for a third day of protests against tax increases and official corruption. After protesters marched in Beirut, Tripoli and other cities across Lebanon, LF leader Samir Geagea said his party's four ministers were resigning from the government. "We are now convinced that the government is unable to take the necessary steps to save the situation," said Geagea. "Therefore, the bloc decided to ask its ministers to resign from the government." The protesters took to the streets despite calls for calm from politicians and dozens of arrests on Friday. Many waved billowing Lebanese flags and insisted the protests should remain peaceful and non-sectarian.

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Protests sweep Lebanon as fury at ruling elite grows over economic corruption

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BEIRUT (Reuters) - by Ellen Francis, Alaa Kanaan - Security forces fired tear gas and chased down protesters in Beirut on Friday after tens of thousands of people across Lebanon marched to demand the demise of a political elite they accuse of looting the economy to the point of collapse. Riot police in vehicles and on foot rounded up protesters, according to Reuters witnesses. They fired rubber bullets and tear gas canisters, dispersing demonstrators in Beirut’s commercial district. Dozens of people were wounded and detained. Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri blamed his partners in government for obstructing reforms that could ward off economic crisis and gave them a 72-hour deadline to stop blocking him, otherwise hinting he may resign. Hariri, addressing protesters, said Lebanon was going through an “unprecedented, difficult time”.

Bahrain urges its citizens to leave Lebanon immediately: foreign ministry Lebanon’s biggest protests in a decade recall the 2011 Arab revolts that toppled four presidents. Lebanese from all sects and walks of life have come out on to the streets, waving banners and chanting slogans urging Hariri’s government to go. The rallies follow warnings by economists and investors that Lebanon’s economy and graft-riddled financial system are closer to the brink than at any time since the war-torn 1980s. “There are those who have placed obstacles in front of me ... and in the face of all the efforts that I have proposed for reform,” Hariri said, without naming names. “Whatever the solution, we no longer have time and I am personally giving myself only a little time. Either our partners in government and in the nation give a frank response to the solution, or I will have another say,” he said. “The deadline left is very short. It’s 72 hours.”

‘STEP DOWN’

Protesters poured through villages and towns as well as the capital Beirut for a second day. No political leader, Muslim or Christian, was spared their wrath. Their chants called for leaders including Hariri, President Michel Aoun, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to step down. The mood was a mixture of rage, defiance and hope.  As night fell, crowds waving Lebanese flags marched through the streets as patriotic music blared from loudspeakers. They shouted: “Our demands are one, our objective is one: the people want the downfall of the regime.”

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Lebanon plans to charge for WhatsApp calls - Tipping Point Protests spread across Lebanon

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by reuters - Lebanon's cabinet has agreed to impose a fee on calls over WhatsApp and other similar applications, as part of efforts to raise revenues in the country's 2020 draft budget, a minister said on Thursday. Information Minister Jamal al-Jarrah said on Thursday that the cabinet had agreed a charge of 20 cents per day for calls via voice over internet protocol (VoIP), used by applications that include FaceTime, Facebook calls, and Facebook-owned Whatsapp. The fee could potentially bring in up to $250m in annual revenues from the country's estimated 3.5 million VoIP users. The country has only two service providers, both state-owned, and some of the most costly mobile rates in the region.

Lebanese TV channels cited Minister of Telecommunications Mohammad Choucair as saying the fee would "not be applied without something in return", which he would announce next week. Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said last month there were no new taxes or fees in the draft 2020 budget he sent to the cabinet. Lebanon is under pressure to approve the 2020 budget to unlock some $11bn pledged at a donor conference last year, conditional on fiscal and other reforms.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri has said the government would work to further reduce the 2020 budget deficit. Foreign allies are not yet fully convinced the Lebanese government is serious about reforms, and a French envoy last month criticised the pace of work. The government only approved the 2019 budget halfway through this year. Lebanon had until 2017 had gone 12 years without a budget. Ahead of a cabinet session on Thursday, Jarrah said ministers would discuss a proposal to raise value-added tax (VAT) by two percentage points in 2021 and then another two percentage points in 2022, until the VAT reaches 15 percent. After ministers agree on the 2020 draft budget, they must send it to parliament for approval. SOURCE: REUTERS NEWS AGENCY

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon erupted in protests Thursday over the government's plans to impose new taxes amid a severe economic crisis, with people taking their anger out on politicians they accuse of corruption and decades of mismanagement. The protests started with few dozen people gathering in central Beirut and quickly escalated into some of the largest demonstrations since an uprising over a garbage crisis in 2015 with thousands holding scattered protests across the country.

Hundreds of people gathered near the government headquarters and parliament building in central Beirut where riot police were deployed. The protesters chanted: "Revolution!" and "Thieves!" — the latter a reference to widespread corruption in a country that has one of the highest debt loads in the world. Some protesters threw stones, shoes and water bottles at security forces and scuffled with police. The protests could plunge Lebanon into a political crisis with unpredictable repercussions on the economy which has been in steady decline. Some of the protesters said they would stay in the streets until the government resigns.

Protesters closed major intersections with burning tires and garbage containers, causing traffic jams. As the protests escalated, the minister of education declared that public and private schools and universities would close Friday. Years of regional turmoil — worsened by an influx of 1.5 million Syrian refugees since 2011 — are catching up with the small Arab country. Lebanon has the third-highest debt level in the world, currently standing at about $86 billion, or 150% of its gross domestic product. "We refuse what's happening in Lebanon... The failure of our government to do at least the minimum ... has given us no other choice than to take the streets," said writer and director Lucien Bourjeily. "They are putting more and more taxes on us even though we cannot take any more taxes," he said.

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Lebanon works to put out big fires for 3rd consecutive day amid criticism of gov't neglect

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BEIRUT, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- For the third consecutive day, Lebanon's civil defense, in cooperation with the Lebanese army, worked hard to put out the huge fires that swept a big number of Lebanese villages. Fires continued on Wednesday to affect hundreds of square meters in Akkar, Yanouh, Daqoun, Bekfaya and other villages. Earlier in the day, Lebanese President Michel Aoun announced that the Higher Relief Commission had been instructed to compensate people affected by the fires. Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the government exerted huge efforts to put out the fires while the Higher Relief Commission will take care of all houses impacted by the fires. "We are working 24 hours a day and the most important thing for me is that there were no casualties," he said. However, Lebanese citizens criticized the government through social media networks for not providing civil defense with the needed equipment to deal properly with such disastrous situations. They also blamed the government for not taking precautionary measures after the sudden rise of temperature to avoid the fires and the damage. Youssef Mallah, a member of the civil defense, told Xinhua that precautionary measures must be taken in such weather conditions. "For instance, we should not allow hunters to shoot from their weapons in such times," he said, explaining that shots from hunters' guns have a hot temperature and may cause fire when they fall on the ground. Camping must be also forbidden in such times, he added. Mallah emphasized the need to hire patrols to tour the place all night long while finding special routes for firefighters to reach fires in a fast way and not to use conventional roads.

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