Resigned Minister Hamadeh: Woeful policies adopted by Siniora government have deteriorated living conditions

Source: alalam.ir, 08-05-2008
BEIRUT-The protests in Beirut is the fallout of the "inefficient" policies by Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, a former Lebanese minister says.
Trad Hamadeh, former labor minister, told Alalam Wednesday that woeful policies adopted by the Siniora government have deteriorated the living conditions in the Mediterranean country.
Demonstrators blocked several roads in and around Beirut with burning tires on Wednesday when large parts of Lebanon observed a strike to protest against the government's economic and social policies.
Lebanese General Labor Confederation had earlier called for a general strike and demonstrations on May 7.
Hamadeh said: "The labor union in Lebanon is witness to a great day in its history against an obstinate government, which has ignored the workers' rights and restoration of social justice and sticks to its feeble, inefficient economic and social policies."
The former minister said the Lebanese government was "treading upon a path other nations had backtracked in the past and blasted Saniora for sticking to failed theories."
Lebanon's opposition warned Wednesday it would pursue its protests in the form of "civil disobedience" until the government goes back on its decisions against the Shiite Muslim fighters.
Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah, whose group leads the opposition, is scheduled to respond to the government moves at a press conference on Thursday that would be his first in two years.
After the protest turned violent, anti-riot police and the army were out in full force, cutting off access to many areas to prevent clashes between supporters of the opposition and the Western-backed government.
Lebanon's former labor minister, Trad Hamadeh, in a phone conversation with Alalam, held the Siniora government responsible for the violent protests in Beirut.