Hezbollah Followers Fill Streets to Oppose Protest Demands

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(Bloomberg) -- Followers of Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah took to the streets Friday, waving the armed movement’s yellow flags and defending its leader against criticism after nine days of nationwide protests demanding the ouster of the political elite.In a televised speech, Hassan Nasrallah said the revolt was being exploited by political parties and unspecified foreign embassies and agencies, and could drag the country into chaos and civil war.“Today the situation in Lebanon has become a regional, political and international target that is employing local groups. It’s no longer about a popular movement, protests, health and employment demands, corruption,” he said, questioning how protesters were funding their movement. Nasrallah called on his supporters not to engage demonstrators, after several were hurt in scuffles.As his speech ended, groups of apparent Hezbollah supporters who had been arguing and fighting with protesters began to leave the main centers. However, in the southern suburbs of Beirut -- Hezbollah’s stronghold -- and the city of Tyre, large numbers of people on motorbikes took to the streets in his support.Hezbollah’s show of strength and the appearance of party flags is a turning point in Lebanon’s uprising, which had transcended for the first time the sectarian and party divisions that tend to dominate Lebanese politics.Hezbollah, which has both political and military wings, performed well in the last elections and is part of the largest coalition in parliament and in the government. A Shi’ite Muslim movement supported by Iran, it led for years the fight against Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000, and later fought a war against it in 2006. The group also dispatched fighters to neighboring Syria to defend President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran and its Lebanese proxy, during that country’s eight-year-old civil conflict.Saudi Arabia Isn’t Rushing to Bail Out Beirut Because of IranNasrallah called on the so-far leaderless street movement to name its representatives and answer the president’s invitation Thursday for a dialogue to end the crisis that has paralyzed the country. Main thoroughfares have been blocked by demonstrators and banks and schools have been shut since the revolt broke out last week over proposed tax increases. President Michel Aoun’s first address to the nation since the protests was met with disappointment on the streets where many were calling for concrete measures.Nasrallah urged the Lebanese public not to dismiss the government’s zero-tax reform plan unveiled earlier this week to address key economic demands and avert a financial crisis. He has opposed calls for the government to resign and hold early elections, saying the economic situation was too fragile.“A vacuum will lead to chaos,” he said.Lebanon Pledges Bank Tax as Part of Sweeping Drive to End UnrestTo contact the reporters on this story: Lin Noueihed in Beirut at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net;Dana Khraiche in Beirut at dkhraiche@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.