In Lebanon's biggest protest in years, thousands of people gathered outside the government headquarters in Beirut on Thursday evening, forcing the cabinet to backtrack on plans to raise a new tax on WhatsApp voice calls.
BEIRUT — Protesters across Lebanon blocked roads with burning tires on Friday and marched in Beirut for a second day in demonstrations targeting the government over an economic crisis.outside the government headquarters in central Beirut on Thursday evening, forcing the cabinet to backtrack on plans to raise a new tax on WhatsApp voice calls. Tear gas was fired as some demonstrators and police clashed in the early hours.
"We are one people united against the state. We want it to fall," a protester in the town of Jeita, 15 km said."Revolution, revolution!" they chanted. The Lebanese newspaper an-Nahar described it as"a tax intifada", or uprising, across Lebanon. Another daily, al-Akhbar, declared it"the WhatsApp revolution" that had shaken Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's unity government.
But as the protests spread, Telecoms Minister Mohamed Choucair phoned into Lebanese broadcasters on Thursday evening to say the proposed levy had been revoked. The crisis has been compounded by a slowdown in capital flows to Lebanon, which has long depended on remittances from its diaspora to meet financing needs, including the state's deficit.
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