Lebanese take to the streets as currency hits a new low
BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of Lebanese poured into the streets to protest the tumbling of the national currency to a new low against the dollar on Thursday, blocking roads and highways in several places across the small country that had started slowly opening up after months of coronavirus restrictions.
In Beirut, protesters also burned tires and pieces of wood, chanted slogans and waved the Lebanese flag to protest the unprecedented economic crisis. Some wore face masks.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab cancelled his meetings for Friday and called for an emergency session to discuss the financial crisis, while the central bank governor urged foreign exchange bureaus to stick to the rate he had ordered.
The Lebanese pound tumbled to more than 6,000 to the dollar, down from 4,000 on the black market. The pound had maintained a fixed rate of 1,500 to the dollar for nearly 30 years. The crash appeared to reflect the growing shortage of foreign currency on the market amid the crisis — but also signaled panic over new U.S. sanctions that will affect neighboring Syria in the coming days and lack of trust in the government's management of the crisis.
The heavily indebted Lebanese government has been in talks for weeks with the International Monetary Fund after it asked for a financial rescue plan but there are no signs of an imminent deal.
By late Thursday, hundreds of protesters poured into the streets of the capital, Beirut, blocking main intersections in various districts. In Beirut, some demonstrators drove on motorcycles by the central bank while others gathered at the downtown epicenter of the anti-government protests that had lasted for months before coronavirus restrictions prompted authorities to break up their encampment. Also, protesters gathered in the southern city...
