BEIRUT—Lebanon’s parliament speaker called on Thursday for quickly forming a new government in the first legislative session since the catastrophic explosion that killed 172 people last week and pushed the cabinet to resign.
Security forces were heavily deployed in the capital Beirut, stopping protesters from reaching a conference center where MPs convened. Many Lebanese are furious at a long entrenched political class they blame for the blast, accusing them of endemic corruption, mismanagement, and negligence.
