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Protests in Lebanon as Hezbollah set to form government

[ssba]

Supporters of current Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and the pro-western March 14 movement took to the streets yesterday, after Hezbollah secured the support of a majority of parliament members for its preferred candidate for prime minister, billionaire Sunni businessman Najib Mikati. Mikati won the support of 65 members of the 128 member parliament. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman is set to announce his choice for the post of prime minister today. Protests against the impending possibility of Hezbollah dominating the next Lebanese government are centring on areas of Sunni population, where support for Saad Hariri is strongest. In the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli, a Sunni bastion, protestors chanted “Hezbollah, party of the devil”, blocked roads and burned tyres. Sunni MPs have called for a second “day of anger” today.