At least 20 people were injured in clashes between protesters and the army during anti-government demonstrations in Lebanon, according to a security source.
The source told Xinhua news agency that clashes erupted on Saturday when a group of protesters in the northern city of Tripoli intercepted big trucks carrying food items in an attempt to prevent them from going to Syria, reports Xinhua news agency.
Protesters were angered to see food being transported to Syria while the people in Lebanon were in great need of these items amid a current economic crisis and the steep hike in prices.
The demonstrators hurled stones at army members who prevented them from stopping trucks by using tear gaswhich led to the violent clashes.
Nationwide demonstrations resumed on Friday evening in Lebanon for the second consecutive day in protest against the dire living conditions in the country.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Saturday urged prople to refrain from violence during protests and to give the current cabinet a chance to reveal soon documents and facts showing corruptive practices by officials in the past governments, the local LBCI TV Channel reported.
"We will not remain silent or allow previous governments to hold us responsible and accountable for the current economic deterioration," Diab said in a televised speech.
"We have enough documents and facts to be revealed soon about their corruptive practices," he added.
Diab accused former Prime Minister Saad Hariri of launching a campaign against the current government, causing people to return to the streets.
"The current campaign caused a major crisis that pushed people into the street in order to prevent the cabinet from implementing its decisions to expose corruption," Diab said.
Last week, Hariri had said that Diab's cabinet, formed by specialists from Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah and Amal Movement, failed to address the economic crisis with its policies which weakened the Lebanese pound by more than 70 per cent.
Diab responded by saying that the current cabinet was trying to implement reforms to fix the damage caused by previous governments to the state's public finances and people's deposits.
The Prime Minister insisted that he wants to make big changes but he is facing political barriers.
However, he assured that change is definitely coming.
Lebanon has witnessed anti-government protests since October 17, 2019.
The protests led to the resignation of Hariri and appointment of Diab to the post.
( With inputs from IANS )