Lebanon’s most senior Christian cleric steps into crisis

BEIRUT - Lebanon’s highest Christian authority called on Wednesday for a change in government to include qualified technocrats and urged the president to begin talks to address demands of demonstrators in the streets for a seventh day. Throwing his weight behind demands for at least some change in government, Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai was the first major religious figure to wade into the crisis. With a population of 6 million people including around 1 million Syrian refugees, Lebanon

has been swept by unprecedented protests against a political elite blamed for a deep economic crisis. Flagwaving protesters kept roads blocked around the country with vehicles and makeshift barricades on Wednesday, while banks and schools remained shut. Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri’s government announced an emergency reform package on Monday, to try to defuse the anger of protesters demanding his government resigns and also to steer the heavily indebted state away from a looming financial crisis. Rai said the measures were welcome but also required replacing current ministers with technocrats. He did not demand Hariri’s resignation. Hariri’s government, which took office at the start of the year, groups nearly all of the main parties in the Lebanese sectarian power-sharing system. “The list of reforms is a positive first step but it requires amending the ministers and renewing the administrative team with national, qualified figures,” Rai said in a televised speech. “We call on the president of the republic ... to immediately begin consultations with the political leadership and the heads of the sects to take the necessary decisions regarding the people’s demands,” Rai said. The president is drawn from his Christian Maronite community. Political sources said a reshuffle was being discussed. One told Reuters the idea of a change in government was “starting to mature”. “But it is not there yet. Not everyone is at the same state of emergency,” the source said.

(Reuters)