Cabinet convenes as civil servants stage massive protest

The cabinet approved on Wednesday the study of a general master plan for prisons in Lebanon and formed a committee to place security endorsements for the government’s websites.  The cabinet added that teachers should not boycott the correction of official exams and close public institutions, considering that such acts are a violation of the provisions of article 15 of the Personnel Act.         

Ahead of the session, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour announced that the protest letter has been sent to the Syrian authorities through diplomatic channels, adding that the letter outlines the recent violations and calls for avoiding their recurrence.

The cabinet session comes simultaneously with a massive protest staged by civil servants and called for by the Union Coordination Committee.

Sources reported that Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud withdrew from the cabinet session in the wake of a dispute with the finance ministry over the  ownership of a building belonging to the ministry of tourism.

PM Najib Mikati announced at the beginning of the session that “twisting the arm of the state and holding 100, 000 students hostage is unacceptable”.

“We cannot accept any threats to stability, nor the exhaustion of the treasury by extra burdens, plunging the country into the abyss”, he said.

Mikati expressed shock that teachers resorted to this sort of escalation after having secured 80% of their scale-related demands.

In turn, Education Minister Hassan Diab also voiced awe over the continued boycott of the official exams’ following the approval of the UCC’s demands.

Diab pointed out that the extra demands of the union fall beyond the control of the education ministry, hoping that teachers would "back down from their decision and resume correction".