Hundreds protest Lebanon's sectarian political system

Hundreds protest Lebanon's sectarian political system

2011-02-27 23:19:03 GMT+7 (ICT)

BEIRUT (BNO NEWS) -- Hundreds of Lebanese took to the streets on Sunday in Beirut to demand an end to the country's sectarian politics.

Demonstrators, mostly young people inspired by the wave of demonstrations across the Middle East, chanted the slogan "the people want the overthrow of the sectarian regime", the state-run National News Agency reported.

Lebanon has a power-sharing system that calls for the president to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker a Shiite Muslim in order to maintain balance between the country's religious sects.

Lebanon suffered a 15-year bloody civil war which ended in 1990 and in which regional powers - particularly Israel, Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organisation - used the country as a battlefield for their own conflicts. In 2008, sectarian violence broke out, threatening the country's stability.

The country is currently transitioning into new government after the last one, led by Saad Hariri, collapsed last month after 11 Hezbollah and allied ministers resigned over differences over ceasing support to a UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of statesman Rafik al-Hariri. Saad Hariri refuses to renounce the UN inquiry that will allegedly blame senior Hezbollah figures for the murder, while Hezbollah says the investigation is politically motivated.

Last month, riots erupted after President Michel Suleiman designated Najib Mikati as Prime Minister. Makiti is backed by the Hezbollah Shia Islamist group, and the protests were staged against Hezbollah's growing political power.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-02-27