Lebanese soldiers in front of the Parliament building, on June 30, 2025, at Place de l’Étoile in Beirut. (Illustrative photo by Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)
The issue of pay in the public sector was at the heart of a demonstration by active and retired civil servants outside Parliament since Tuesday. Tensions rose with soldiers stationed outside the building after some protesters, responding to calls from public sector teachers' unions, particularly full-time staff, attempted to cross security barriers, according to the National News Agency (NNA).
After the morning session, which ended at 2 p.m., Parliament Vice President Elias Bou Saab met with the demonstrators to assure them that their demands would be taken into account, as he had already done once on Tuesday.
According to NNA, the number of participants increased compared to the turnout on Wednesday, which had been much smaller than on Tuesday.
The plan submitted on time by the government to Parliament, and reviewed by the Finance Committee, does not include any comprehensive adjustment of public sector salaries or pensions to offset the depreciation of the lira recorded since the beginning of the crisis in 2019.
Meeting with public sector teachers' unions on Thursday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam committed to continuing the dialogue and to begin adjusting a portion of salaries “before the end of February,” if possible, once the budget is approved and its projections confirmed — denying reports in the press that he had said the government “had nothing to give teachers.”
Another meeting has already been scheduled for two weeks from now.
Israel kills 2 in southern Lebanon, shattering 3 days of relative calm