BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition joined 1,500 people in Beirut Tuesday protesting tax increases proposed by the country's embattled prime minister.
The demonstration, organized by labor unions, called for an open-ended sit-in outside the Finance Ministry's taxation department, the Kuwaiti News Agency reported.
Combat troops and riot police were out in force, the news agency said.
Protesters held Lebanese flags and union placards critical of government economic policies and tax measures, the agency said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora last week proposed a value-added tax increase as part of an economic-reform program he would present Jan. 25 to an international conference in Paris in the hope of getting aid to revitalize Lebanon's economy.
