Lebanese journalists are facing threats and wide-ranging harassment in their work — including verbal insults and physical attacks, even death threats — while reporting on nearly 50 days of anti-government protests, despite Lebanon's reputation as a haven for free speech in a troubled region.

Nationwide demonstrations erupted on Oct. 17 over a plunging economy. They quickly grew into calls for sweeping aside Lebanon's entire ruling elite. Local media outlets — some of which represent the sectarian interests protesters are looking to overthrow — are now largely seen as pro- or anti-protests, with some journalists feeling pressured to leave their workplaces over disagreements about media coverage.

Ex-interior minister and Beirut MP Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Friday announced that he will boycott the binding parliamentary consultations to name a new premier scheduled for Monday.

In a tweet, Mashnouq, once a member of al-Mustaqbal bloc, said his decision comes out of “respect for the will of the capital’s residents” following “the statement that was issued by the Union of the Associations of Beiruti Families.”

Ex-minister Wiam Wahhab on Friday said that a new premiership candidate might emerge prior to Monday’s binding parliamentary consultations, suggesting that international and domestic forces might push for a nominee other than Samir Khatib.

“Lebanon is betting on (French) President (Emmanuel) Macron’s support to halt the financial and economic collapse and the Paris meeting may prompt a change in the premiership candidates before Monday,” Wahhab, who is close to Hizbullah, tweeted.

The leading candidate for the post of PM-designate, Samir Khatib, is in “very good health,” his office said on Friday.

“Some media outlets published a report about Engineer Khatib’s health, following a series of rumors in this regard that involved insulting and false information which are totally baseless,” the office said in a statement.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday warned Europe that chaos in Lebanon would create repercussions similar to those of the Syrian crisis, such as extremism and a refugee influx towards Europe.

“Chaos in Lebanon – which some foreign forces are plotting – will have a similar outcome as that of the Syrian crisis: the country’s ruin, the destruction of its institutions, bloodshed among its sons, roving extremism and an influx of refugees towards you,” Bassil warned in a speech in Rome during the Mediterranean Dialogues conference.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Friday warned that “some embassies” are facilitating emigration for Lebanese citizens in order to “empty Lebanon of its people and Christians.”

Addressing the “young men and women of the civil protest movement,” al-Rahi warned them that “some embassies, which I will not name now, are facilitating the issue of emigration, as if it is a second war to empty Lebanon of its people and Christians.”

In the span of one week, over 60 companies notified the labor ministry of plans to lay off employees, caretaker minister Camille Abu Suleiman told LBCI television on Friday.

The union of restaurant and bar owners has recently said that 265 establishments have closed since the protests began in early October, and warned that this figure could rise to 465 by the end of the year.

France intends to hold a Paris meeting Wednesday for the International Support Group for Lebanon to help the country cope with its dire economic crisis, media reports said.

A European official confirmed that invitations to the meeting have been sent out.

Outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday openly asked Arab and world leaders to help his country secure credit lines for imports from friendly nations as the tiny Mediterranean country passes through its worst economic and financial crisis in decades.

According to a statement released by his office, Hariri sent letters to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, France, China, Russia, Italy and the United States as part of his efforts to ease the liquidity crisis and secure food stuff and raw materials.

Despite reports that political parties have neared a consensus on supporting Samir Khatib for the post of PM-designate, “cautious anticipation” prevails as protests gear for mass rallies against that nomination Sunday, one day before the binding consultations.

President Michel Aoun is expected to initiate the binding parliamentary consultations to name a premier on Monday, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.