Lawmakers in Beirut voted on Tuesday to back Najib Mikati, the candidate Hezbollah had proposed, as a prime minister. He gained 68 votes to Hariri's 60, putting the Hezbollah-led opposition in a position to form a government.
Demonstrations were called across the country, with thousands gathering in the northern city of Tripoli, and on the highway linking Beirut with the southern port city of Sidon. Hariri, the caretaker prime minister, held a national address after the protests calling for calm and rejecting violence in the public demonstrations.
Rula Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Beirut, reported that the protests were "angry", and that journalists were being targeted by the crowds.
"We had a ... transmission truck for Al Jazeera burnt down [in Tripoli]. The journalists who are there are being surrounded, they are being attacked [and] they are calling for help," she said.
Al Jazeera later confirmed that the journalists who were surrounded at their building in Tripoli were able to get out safely, but the truck's windsheld was smashed, before protesters set it on fire.
"It seems the frustration that is among the Hariri supporters is gaining momentum. However, it doesn't seem like there is a plan. They don't know how to get that frustration out," Amin reported.
She said that protests in Beirut had been small, but they put residents on edge. Army tanks had been deployed in the capital.
"There has been a protest here [at the Kola intersection], you can see the burning tyres. A few dozen young men came around, burned the tyres, put garbage bins in the street, blocked the roads. A few army patrols also came, they tried to reopen the road. At some points they did, and other roads they left closed," she said.
"For a 'Day of Rage', this [the Beirut protest] is still a small, contained, controlled protest.
"There is a lot of concern that this political crisis will turn violent, and that's why people here are very concerned."
Nevertheless, an Al Jazeera cameraman in Beirut was "harassed, and almost beaten. [Protesters] want journalists to get out of the area, they didn't want any filming. And they went after even some international media present there".
"As you can see, the protests are small [in Beirut] - however, most people today did not send their kids to school, and many people didn't go to work. They are concerned, they don't know how these protests will develop."
Hariri appeals for calm
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/22208 ... ns-PM-vote
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