Hezbollah TV channel says Twitter accounts suspended

BAABDA: Thousands of backers of Lebanon's embattled president rallied yesterday in a show of support, after more than two weeks of massive nationwide anti-graft protests that brought down the government. They paid tribute to President Michel Aoun outside the capital, ahead of another demonstration planned in Beirut to demand a complete overhaul of a political system deemed inefficient and corrupt.

In the town of Baabda, supporters of the retired general turned head of state filled up a two-kilometer-long road leading to the presidential palace, an AFP correspondent said. Fans of the president waved large Lebanese flags and orange-colored banners of the political party he founded, the Free Patriotic Movement, he said. "We are here, General. We won't abandon you as long as we live," one poster read, responding to a cross-sectarian movement calling for an end to his term. Some Aoun supporters wore orange T-shirts while others held up portraits of the 84-year-old president.

"General Aoun is a reformist and sincere man-not corrupt nor a thief," said one supporter who gave her name as Diana. "There has been corruption in the state for 30 years. The president isn't responsible. He's trying to fight against graft," she said. In Baabda, Aoun supporters said they backed the general demands of protesters nationwide, but insisted the president was the only man able to bring about reforms. "There were slogans against the president. That's not fair," said Hanna Nader, an unemployed man in his forties.

More than 25 percent of the Lebanese live in poverty, the World Bank says. Economic growth in Lebanon has stalled in recent years in the wake of repeated political crises, compounded by an eight-year civil war in neighboring Syria. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his cabinet would step down. But it is still unclear what a new government will look like and if it will include independent technocrats as demanded by demonstrators. Thousands of anti-government protesters flocked together in the northern city of Tripoli Saturday night, many from other parts of the country.

Twitter accounts suspended
In another development, the television station of Lebanon's powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah protested Saturday that most of its Twitter accounts had been suspended. Al-Manar accused the US-based social media platform of giving in to "political pressures". "Account suspended," one such Arabic-language account, @almanarnews, read late Saturday.
"There is no place on Twitter for illegal terrorist organizations and violent extremist groups," a Twitter spokesperson said. The accounts in English, French and Spanish were also not available, but the Twitter handles of specific television shows seemed to be functioning. Iran-backed Hezbollah is designated a "terrorist" group by the United States and several of its officials are under US sanctions, but it is also a key political player in Lebanon.

The group held three ministerial posts and a majority with its Christian allies before Lebanon's cabinet fell this week after 13 days of mass anti-graft protests. Hezbollah is the only group not to have disarmed after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, and it fought Israeli troops who occupied southern Lebanon until 2000. It has also been a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in the neighboring country's eight-year conflict.

'Extraordinary movement'
Meanwhile, Lebanon's banks did not see "any extraordinary movement" of money on Friday or Saturday, the first two days they reopened to the public after a two-week closure due to nationwide protests, the head of the banking association said. "The reaction was almost the way we expected and anticipated. However, people were asking a lot of questions and we provided as much assurances as possible," Salim Sfeir, head of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, told Reuters by email. Central bank Governor Riad Salameh said the reopening of banks "in general … did not cause any disturbance at any bank".

"This is important given the long period of shut down and the events our country went through," he told Reuters in written comments. Analysts and bankers had cited widespread concern about a rush by depositors to withdraw their savings or transfer them abroad when the banks reopened. The nationwide protests that erupted on Oct 17 tipped Lebanon into political turmoil as it grapples with the worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.

The uprisings led Saad Al-Hariri to quit as prime minister this week. "We are trying to counter rumors and avoid panic in order to prevent any unnecessary and unjustified withdrawals," Sfeir said. When banks opened their doors on Friday, no formal capital controls were imposed, but customers encountered new curbs on transfers abroad and withdrawals from US dollar accounts, bankers and customers said.
"No formal capital controls are considered," Salameh said on Saturday, adding that such a move would require a vote in parliament. "The banks are professionally handling [the situation] and the central bank is backing them," he said. A banking source said branch operations so far had been "better than expected". Amid rain, protest activity was low on Saturday, but there were calls on social media for gatherings later in the day. - Agencies