Beirut
The revolutionaries are right,” Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced on the second day of his new assignment. He added that his approach would be “to form a government of independent technocrats. But give me a chance.” Diab met with former prime ministers — Salim Hoss, Fouad Siniora and Tammam Salam — on Friday, as well as Hariri. His tour came in the wake of pro-Hariri protests held by Sunni Muslims in Beirut, Tripoli and parts of the Bekaa on Thursday night and Friday morning. Those protests escalated into violence, and at least four soldiers from the Fourth Intervention Regiment (the riot squad for the Internal Security Forces) were wounded as protesters threw stones at them. One woman told Arab News: “Diab does not represent us. We are with the return of Hariri as prime minister.” She accused those in the government of “obstructing Hariri’s work toward achieving the reforms he wanted.”
