Lebanese soldiers have urged protesters to clear all road blocks, after 13 days of demonstrations that paralyzed the country and forced the Prime minister to resign.
A major route in Beirut was cleared by security officials, it was one of the major routes. A group of soldiers tried to pick up a vehicle blocking the highway before it drove off, al-Jaded television footage showed.
Some security officials were trying to urge crowds to clear the roads leading to nearby hospitals around the Ring Bridge in the centre of the capital. But one of the protesters seemed adamant as she refused to leave, she said: “I am staying here,”
Saad al-Hariri resigned as Lebanon’s prime minister on Tuesday, toppling his coalition government. He said he had hit a “dead end” in trying to resolve the crisis unleashed by the huge protests against the ruling elite.
In a statement, the army command said people had a right to protest, but that applied “in public squares only”. The main protest camp in a square in the centre of the capital was quiet but was closed to traffic by security forces.
Hariri made his resignation speech after a crowd loyal to the Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah and Amal movements attacked and destroyed a camp in central Beirut.
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This protest has been tagged as the most serious discord on the streets of Beirut since 2008, when Hezbollah fighters seized control of the capital in a brief eruption of armed conflict with Lebanese adversaries loyal to Hariri and his allies at the time.
The resignation of Hariri has plunged Lebanon into a state of unpredictable political territory.