Lebanese protesters insist the poor must not pay for the government's loan default

Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Saturday that Lebanon would suspend a payment of $1.2 billion (£910 million) in loans due today because its currency reserves are dangerously low. It is the first time Lebanon has defaulted on a debt payment.

He set out a five-point programme of action that involved banking reform — including a suggestion that the country’s finance sector was simply too large — negotiations to restructure the debt and spending cuts.

But protesters marching in Tyre against repayment of the debt slammed “policies of starvation” from the government.

At the demo, speaker Muhammad Farran called for a programme of change to “rebuild the country ... try the immoral ruling class and recover the stolen money.”

The Communist Party warned that debt restructuring could see public assets sold to foreign interests, as was imposed on Greece by the EU and IMF.