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Lebanon's PM-designate steps down as political crisis escalates

16 July 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri stepped down Thursday amid months of deadlock and years-long turmoil over the country's economic collapse.

Driving the news: His departure sinks the chances of forming a government to pursue immediate reforms for recovery, per AP, and is likely to bring greater instability to Lebanon.

  • Supporters of Hariri, one of Lebanon’s most prominent Sunni Muslim leaders, and other protesters blocked roads and set fire to tires in parts of Beirut following the news.
  • Troops fired rubber-coated steel bullets and used armored vehicles to force open roads to disperse protests, while demonstrators threw stones at soldiers, Al Jazeera reports.
  • There is no clear candidate to replace Hariri, who cited "key differences" with the president.
Protesters confront Lebanese soldiers during a demonstration in Beirut. Photo: Marwan Naamani/Picture alliance via Getty Images

Catch up quick: Lebanon has not had a working government since Prime Minister Hassan Diab's Cabinet resigned days after a deadly explosion last August. Protesters blamed the disaster, which killed more than 211 people, injured 6,000 and left roughly 250,000 homeless, on the ruling elite's corruption.

What they're saying: "I have excused myself from forming the government," Hariri said after a 20-minute meeting with President Michel Aoun, according to AP. "May God help the country."

  • Under the country's sectarian-based political system, the prime minister comes from the Sunni community.
  • Hariri told Al-Jadeed TV that he doesn't plan to endorse a replacement.
  • Aoun has said he will consult with parliamentary blocs.

Hariri's resignation is "yet another disappointing development for the Lebanese people," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

  • "The Lebanese economy is in free-fall, and the current government is not providing basic services in a reliable fashion," he added. "It is critical that a government committed and able to implement priority reforms be formed now."

Worth noting: The national currency dropped to a new low on Thursday. The Lebanese pound, which has been pegged to the dollar for 30 years, lost more than 90% of its value, AP reports.

The big picture: Lebanon has undergone one of the world's worst economic collapses in history since 2019.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.