Abou Rizk calls for public protests

The head of the breakaway faction of the General Labor Confederation (GLC), Elias Abou Rizk, on October 12 called for a public rally against economic deterioration and the government's taxation policies.

"Changes in policy cannot be achieved unless people take to the streets, and we hope that we will not face any confrontation," he said after meeting former Prime Minister Omar Karami in Tripoli.

"We spoke about government waste which officials have not recognized as a serious problem until recently," he said. Abou Rizk criticized the budget and the imposition of new taxes at a time when the country was in an economic crisis.

He said that the GLC had warned that the country would reach this state if the government continued squandering money and incurring more public debt.

Asked whether he was cooperating with head of the government-recognized GLC, Ghanime Zoghbi, he said: "We don't recognize any other confederation."