Hundreds protest Lebanon's economic reform plan

BEIRUT, Jan 17 (Reuters) Hundreds of Lebanese protesters rallied outside the Economy Ministry in Beirut today as part of a Hezbollah-led campaign to topple the government and block its economic reform plans.

''We are not against reform, we are against the (government's) reform programme,'' the crowd chanted.

Scores of soldiers and police cordoned off the ministry near the commercial Hamra street. Four similar protests took place at government buildings over the past eight days.

The demonstrations, much smaller than the vast gatherings organised by Hezbollah and its allies in December, were called by the main labour union confederation and backed by the opposition to press a 48-day-old campaign to topple Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government.

Protesters have camped outside Siniora's offices in central Beirut since December 1 to try to force him to cede veto power to the opposition in a unity government or call early elections.

Siniora, who has Western and Saudi backing, has resisted those demands, instead announcing an economic reform package to be presented at an international donor conference in Paris.

The Beirut government hopes the January 25 conference, which US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to attend, will bring billions of dollars of aid to an economy reeling from Hezbollah's July-August war with Israel.

The reforms, which aim to boost growth and ease Lebanon's 41 billion dollars public debt, include raising value-added tax and privatising the mobile telecom sector -- both rejected by the union confederation as damaging workers' rights.

The opposition, led by the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shi'ite Hezbollah, has pledged to press ahead with its campaign until Siniora gives way.

Reuters MS DB2121