Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati questioned what was happening on the ground on Wednesday evening after retired soldiers invaded certain roads in downtown Beirut and around his house, burning tires.
This mobilization came in protest at the “surprise” ministerial session held in the early afternoon at the Grand Serail, following the postponement of the initial session scheduled for 9 a.m. on Tuesday. In response, the forces of law and order, who were present en masse on the ground, were ordered to throw – at the former defenders of the homeland – more than fifty tear gas bombs to keep them away.
In a statement issued by his press office, Mikati wondered what all the fuss was about. “It seems that the organized groups mobilizing under the slogan ‘demanding the rights of retired military personnel have decided to turn against the State and the institution of the Council of Ministers and impose total paralysis on the country,” he denounced.
“Is it a crime for the government to meet to deal with issues that concern the population and the affairs of public administrations?” he also questioned.
Addressing the retired military, he deplored the fact that they “deliberately ignored his speech at the start of the ministerial session,” which stated: “When we start studying the 2025 budget, we will take fundamental measures and decisions concerning the rights of public sector workers, and the proposed increases for civilians, active and retired military are included in the draft budget.”
Mikati also acknowledged in his statement that “the Council of Ministers is taking temporary measures to grant public sector workers social assistance until the budget is approved by Parliament. A measure that has already been adopted and applied to active military personnel and pensioners too.”
The caretaker Prime Minister also felt that the actions of retired military personnel in the field this evening are “far from being classic protest movements. They have turned into suspicious movements that undermine their legitimate demands and the military ethics of those who carry the banner of retirees’ rights,” he also stressed.
Justifying this afternoon’s “ordinary” ministerial session, Mikati felt that this was part of “his constitutional duties as Prime Minister,” adding that “the agenda was distributed per the rules and within the deadlines set by the Council of Ministers’ rules of procedure.”
Finally, Mikati indicated that he would not bend and that the sessions “will continue under the procedures and dates he deems appropriate to complete the study of the general finance bill for the year 2025, once the Cabinet has reviewed today’s Finance Minister’s report (Wednesday) and the Council has officially opened its sessions.”
