(Bloomberg) -- Protesters on the streets of Lebanon’s capital vandalized shops and threw rocks at riot police stationed near parliament, as violence flared a day after the formation of a new government.
The army deployed in small groups around downtown Beirut in a bid to support police, who said rioters began pelting security personnel as soon as they had arrived.
Television footage showed protesters pulling up street signs and using them as projectiles to throw at police or smash the windows of some stores in one of the city’s most upmarket areas.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab, an academic and former education minister, announced his cabinet lineup late Tuesday after three months of anti-establishment rallies left the country facing its worst financial and political crisis in years. But Wednesday’s clashes show protesters aren’t yet willing to leave the streets and give his government a chance to prove itself.
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