Lebanon postpones talks to pick new PM

LEBANON’S president on Monday postponed consultation to select a new prime minister after weeks of largely peaceful street protests descended into weekend violence, leaving dozens wounded in clashes with security forces.

The government stepped down on October 29 in the face of unprecedented nationwide demonstrations demanding the complete overhaul of a political class deemed inept and corrupt.

On Monday, President Michel Aoun’s office said he had “responded to the wishes of (outgoing) prime minister Saad Hariri to postpone parliamentary consultations until Thursday December 19”.

Hariri’s office said the deferral -- the second this month -- was to avoid “a nomination without any major Christian bloc taking part”.

Parliamentary consultations had previously been scheduled for December 9 before being pushed back a week to Monday.

In the latest clashes late Monday, young supporters of the country’s two main Shiite parties tried to attack the anti-government protest camp in central Beirut, local television reported.

Live footage showed dozens of youths -- whom reporters described as Hezbollah and Amal supporters -- lob rocks in the direction of riot police on the edge of the main protest square, before they retaliated with teargas.

A thick column of grey smoke rose up from a small car engulfed in flames reportedly overturned by the counter-protesters.

Earlier on Monday evening, dozens of protesters had gathered near Hariri’s residence refusing his return as prime minister -- a scenario put forward in the past week.

“We’re protesting here until they form the government people want,” made up entirely of independent experts, said activist Claude Jabre.

Cabinet formation can drag on for months in the multi-confessional country, with Hariri taking almost nine months to reach an agreement with all political sides for the last one. - ‘Widespread chaos’ Consensus on the name of a new prime minister is frequently reached before parliamentary consultations begin.

According to a complex political system that seeks to maintain a fragile balance between religious communities, Lebanon’s prime minister is always a Sunni Muslim.