Protesters in downtown Beirut. (Photo provided by L'Orient Today's correspondent Mountasser Abdallah)
The meeting of the caretaker government of Najib Mikati, scheduled for Tuesday morning, to discuss the 2025 budget has been postponed indefinitely, announced the general secretariat of the government. This decision was taken due to the lack of a quorum of participants, while access to the Grand Serail was blocked by demonstrators, including retired military personnel, who are demanding a review of public sector salaries.
"Due to lack of quorum, it was decided to postpone today's Council meeting to a later date," the secretariat announced in a brief statement.
Several dozen retired military personnel and demonstrators mobilized on Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. in downtown Beirut, hours before the meeting to demand that the government improve their retirement benefits and increase public sector salaries.
To put pressure on the cabinet, the demonstrators blocked some accesses to the Grand Serail with burning tires.
On Monday evening, Mikati said he was surprised by the call for protests by retired military personnel. On Tuesday morning, his press office published a photo of him "in his office, preparing for the Council of Ministers meeting."
About sixty items are on the agenda for this session, at the top of which is the study of the state budget and a request from the Ministry of Labor to modify the minimum wage. The agenda does not specify the details, except for the mention of a "formula validated by the Council of State." The last modification dates back to last April, when the minimum wage increased from LL 9 to LL 18 million per month.
During the sit-in, retired general Georges Nader said that “there will be no [meeting] today, as long as the demands of the military for a dignified life, like all other sectors, are not heard.”
According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), only the caretaker Ministers of Telecoms Johnny Corm, Industry Georges Bouchikian, and Sports Georges Kallas were able to arrive at the government headquarters.
According to the NNA, only the caretaker Ministers of Interior Bassam Mawlawi, Telecoms Johnny Corm, Industry Georges Bouchikian, and Sports Georges Kallas were able to arrive at the government headquarters.
Demonstrators then refused to leave the site and open the roads before they could speak with a representative of Mikati.
Fares Gemayel, an advisor to Mikati, told al-Jadeed that the postponement of the ministerial meeting “will lead to the postponement” of certain decisions that were due to be taken during the session, notably those concerning “basic demands and provisional solutions pending approval of the budget.”
“It is the right of every citizen to express his or her demands in the way he or she deems most appropriate, but has this led to the expected results," the advisor stated. He also pointed out that there were no plans as yet for another afternoon session.
Following the postponement of the cabinet session, Bouchikian said that he contacted retired Major General Nicolas Mezhe and that Mezher tried to enter the Grand Serail to talk with the present ministers but that "the protesters did not allow him to do so."
"We were surprised that the protesters prevented Mezher from entering the Grand Serail. Who can we negotiate with," he added.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.