Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Monday underscored that “thugs belong in jail,” referring to those who carried out acts of rioting in Beirut and Tripoli over the past days.

Diab was speaking during a financial-security meeting that he chaired at the Grand Serail to “follow up on the current security situations and control the U.S. dollar exchange rate,” the National News Agency said.

Political contacts were intensified over the past two days to prevent any descent into security chaos, a media report said.

“Ex-PM Saad Hariri communicated with the leaderships of Hizbullah and AMAL Movement, expressing his anger, after he thought that the masses took to the streets at partisan orders,” al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to Hizbullah, reported on Monday.

Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi on Sunday issued a memo ending the odd-even rule for the movement of vehicles, which has been in place since April 7 as part of the so-called state of general mobilization over the coronavirus pandemic.

The rule had rationed the movement of vehicles with those whose license plates end in an odd digit allowed on the streets for three days a week and those whose plates end in an even digit allowed to move for the three other days. The system had barred both categories of vehicles from moving on Sundays.

Lebanon confirmed only four COVID-19 coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, a drop from twenty daily cases recorded on Saturday.

A statement issued by the Health Ministry said two of the infected individuals are residents and the other two are repatriated expats. It said the two local cases have been traced to known sources.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday accused the government of negligence towards the rioting that central Beirut had witnessed in recent days.

“As much as we as Lebanese cling to freedom of opinion and expression, we also cling to public order, public safety and the preservation of public and private property,” Geagea said in a tweet.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday said “vandals”, “suspicious protesters” and “saboteurs” have infiltrated the anti-government protests.

“We will not allow anyone to destroy the civilized Lebanese state and we are supporting the government for a single objective, which is that it heed the voice of the people who want a government that carries out the reforms that are demanded domestically and internationally,” said al-Rahi in his Sunday Mass sermon.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri exerted major efforts prior to Friday’s two cabinet sessions to prevent President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab from sacking Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh in connection with the dramatic currency crash, reports said.

Parliamentary and ministerial sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday that Berri had flown from Msayleh to Baabda in an army helicopter to take part in a meeting with Aoun and Diab that preceded the second cabinet session.

Hundreds of demonstrators angered by a deepening economic crisis rallied Saturday across Lebanon for a third consecutive day, after violent overnight riots sparked condemnation from the political elite.

Protesting against the surging cost of living and the government's apparent impotence in the face of Lebanon's worst economic turmoil since the 1975-1990 civil war, protesters in central Beirut brandished flags and chanted anti-government slogans.

Lebanese protesters took to the streets in Beirut and other cities Saturday in mostly peaceful protests against the government, calling for its resignation as the small country sinks deeper into economic distress.

The protests come after two days of rallies spurred by a dramatic collapse of the local currency against the dollar. Those rallies degenerated into violence, including attacks on private banks and shops.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab said the attempts to “overthrow” his government have “failed,” and accused some parties, without naming them, of instigating protests and drowning the country into a crippling economic crisis.