{"id":41418,"date":"2019-11-01T21:22:31","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T21:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41418"},"modified":"2019-11-01T21:22:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T21:22:31","slug":"hezbollah-leader-nasrallah-lebanons-next-government-must-heed-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=41418","title":{"rendered":"Hezbollah leader Nasrallah: Lebanon\u2019s next government must heed protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"<div readability=\"70\">\n<p>\nBEIRUT: The leader of Shiite group Hezbollah said on Friday a new Lebanese government must listen to the demands that fueled protests against the country\u2019s rulers and led Saad Al-Hariri to quit as prime minister.<\/p>\n<p>\nHariri\u2019s resignation has left Lebanon without a government as it faces the worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. Hezbollah, a heavily armed group backed by Iran, had opposed the resignation of the coalition of which it was part.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cA new government must be formed as soon as possible &#8230; and the new government must listen to the demands of the people who took to the streets,\u201d Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThere must be serious work because time is tight and so is people\u2019s patience,\u201d he said, adding that the government\u2019s goal must be to restore confidence.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe unprecedented, nationwide protests that erupted on Oct. 17 tipped Lebanon into political turmoil at a time when it was already grappling with dire economic conditions and strains in its financial system.<\/p>\n<p>\nLebanese banks, which had been closed since Oct. 18, reopened on Friday, with queues building and customers encountering new curbs on transfers abroad and withdrawals from US dollar accounts.<\/p>\n<p>\nThough no formal controls were imposed, banks told customers they could only transfer funds abroad in particular circumstances such repaying loans, education, health, family support or commercial commitments.<\/p>\n<p>\nAn hour after doors opened, dozens people of people were waiting at some banks in Beirut and other cities, Reuters witnesses said. At others, fewer were waiting.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe Association of Banks in Lebanon praised the public for acting \u201cresponsibly.\u201d The Lebanese pound strengthened against the dollar on the parallel market that has emerged in recent months, three dealers said.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe central bank had promised not to impose capital controls when banks re-opened, measures that could hamper the currency inflows and investment that Lebanon badly needs.<\/p>\n<p>\nAsked about steps being taken by banks, banking association chief Salim Sfeir said: \u201cI would not call it restrictions but rather efforts by the banks to accommodate all customers, given the pressure resulting from closing for two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWe stand ready to adjust any measure taken, once the situation in the country is back to normal,\u201d he told Reuters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BEIRUT: The leader of Shiite group Hezbollah said on Friday a new Lebanese government must listen to the demands that fueled protests against the country\u2019s rulers and led Saad Al-Hariri to quit as prime minister. Hariri\u2019s resignation has left Lebanon without a government as it faces the worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":41419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}