Tens of thousands of Lebanese protesters have formed a human chain running north to south across the entire country to symbolise national unity amid a civil disobedience campaign against the government.<\/p>\n
Demonstrators joined hands from Tripoli to Tyre, a 170-kilometre chain running through the capital Beirut, as part of an unprecedented cross-sectarian mobilisation.<\/p>\n
On foot, by bicycle and on motorbikes, demonstrators and volunteers fanned out along the main north-south highway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea behind this human chain is to show an image of a Lebanon which, from north to south, rejects any sectarian affiliation,\u201d Julie Tegho Bou Nassif, one of the organisers, said.<\/p>\n
It marked the eleventh day of anti-government protests which began on 17 October.<\/p>\n
Tension has mounted in recent days between security forces and protesters, who are blocking roads and bringing the country to a standstill to press their demands for a complete overhaul of the political system.<\/p>\n
Lebanon\u2019s reviled political elite has defended a belated package of economic reforms and appeared willing to reshuffle the government, but protesters who have stayed on the streets since October 17 want more.<\/p>\n
People have been demonstrating against the handling of a severe economic crisis, and there have been clashes with security forces.<\/p>\n
In the northern city of Tripoli, where more than half the population lives under the poverty line, some had painted the Lebanese national symbol of a cedar tree on their faces, according to the media reports.<\/p>\n
While, in the southern city of Tyre, protesters standing in a line held the edges of a long Lebanese flag, local television showed.<\/p>\n
The protests have been remarkable for their territorial reach and the absence of political or sectarian banners, in a country often defined by its divisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tens of thousands of Lebanese protesters have formed a human chain running north to south across the entire country to symbolise national unity amid a civil disobedience campaign against the government. Demonstrators joined hands from Tripoli to Tyre, a 170-kilometre chain running through the capital Beirut, as part of an unprecedented cross-sectarian mobilisation. On foot, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1460,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11205,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11203\/revisions\/11205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vosa.tv\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}