A school principal in Lebanon threatened to expel her pupils shall they participate in the nationwide protests gripping the country since October 17 demanding to overhaul the country’s political leaders.

In a first since the beginning of the demonstrations on October 17, Lebanon’s school students flocked to the streets on Wednesday joining the country’s revolution against the political class.

Lebanese protesters shifted the focus of their moves from setting barricades and blocking roads to holding sit-ins inside and at the entrances of state-run companies and institutions demanding an end to widespread corruption and mismanagement by the political class that has ruled the country for three decades.

Many school and university students in many parts of Lebanon participated in the demos, some shouting slogans against one school principal who threatened to expel students shall they take part in the demos.

Riot police scuffled Tuesday evening with large numbers of protesters before allowing them to enter into the privately-run Zaitunay Bay promenade on Beirut’s waterfront.

A small number of protesters had earlier in the day entered into Zaitunay Bay where they sat on the ground and chanted slogans demanding an end to seaside property violations and insisting that the area is public and not private property.

International credit ratings agency Moody's on Tuesday downgraded Lebanon's issuer ratings to Caa2 from Caa1, saying “the ratings remain on review for downgrade.”

“The downgrade to Caa2 reflects the increased likelihood of a debt rescheduling or other liability management exercise that may constitute a default under Moody's definition since opening the review for downgrade of the Caa1 ratings at the start of October,” the agency said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday said that he supports “the real civil protest movement.”

“I support the protest movement and all its demands, except for two issues: the blocking of roads and the swears and insults,” Berri told reporters after a meeting for the Parliament Bureau in Ain el-Tineh.

Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against former minister Fayez Shukur over “professional negligence at the National Social Security Fund,” the National News Agency said.

“He has referred the file to Beirut’s first examining magistrate,” NNA added.

The Donald Trump administration reiterated support for the Lebanese army and security forces, stressing that “no expenditures or purchases of military material have been delayed,” without saying whether the $105 million in aid is still on hold, UAE’s English-language daily The National reported on Tuesday.

Two more journalists from the pro-Hizbullah al-Akhbar daily quit their jobs at the paper on Tuesday over what they said is its coverage policy of the October 17 popular uprising in Lebanon.

Sabah Ayoub, one of the journalists, wrote on Twitter: “Reasons have piled up making me resign al-Akhbar, the last of which was the paper’s coverage policy of the popular October 17 uprising.”

Protesters held a sit-in in downtown Beirut outside the new offices of touch, one of two mobile network operators in Lebanon, chanting slogans and demanding a cut in service fees, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday.