Lebanese protesters block roads after designation of Hezbollah-backed Diab as new PM

Protesters blocked roads across crisis-hit Lebanon on Friday to condemn the designation of Hezbollah-backed Hassan Diab as prime minister. The divisive vote sparked uproar among members of the Sunni community.

Diab, a little-known 60-year-old engineering professor at the American University of Beirut, was designated on Thursday with the endorsement of Shiite group Hezbollah and its allies but without backing from Lebanon’s main Sunni bloc.

The nomination of the independent former education minister and ‘technocrat’ ended nearly two months of political wrangling among lawmakers.

Members of Lebanon’s Sunni community say the prime-minister-designate does not enjoy their backing for a post reserved for Sunni Muslims by a power-sharing system enshrined after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, AFP reported.