Lebanese army begins clearing road blocks as protesters refuse to leave

Lebanese army begins clearing road blocks as protesters refuse to leave
October 23, 2019, 8:23 am

Lebanese army soldiers remove protestors blocking the main road between the southern city of Sidon and the capital Beirut, on October 23, 2019. (AFP)

The Lebanese army began a wide-scale operation on Wednesday to open roads blocked by a number of demonstrators in different cities as protesters refused to leave on the seventh day of nationwide protests.

An Al Arabiya correspondent reported that the army tried to forcibly open some of the main roads, which led to some confrontations with protesters, especially in the areas of Keserwan, and Sidon

Reports suggest the army was forcibly removing protesters from the highway in Nahr al-Kelb, one of the main roads going into Beirut from the north. Traffic data showed that many roads in and around Beirut remained closed.

The night before, the chief of Lebanon's National News Agency, Laure Sleiman, was fired from her post. The NNA had been covering the protests.

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