Dozens of laid-off electricity workers blocked both sides of a major highway just north of Beirut Tuesday morning to demand their reinstatement.
Thousands of motorists were trapped for hours as the workers set fire to tires and fended off security forces who tried to disperse them.
They later reopened one side of the highway, but threatened to stay put until private electricity company KVA re-hires 62 contractual workers who were recently let go.
"We will not leave these streets until the annulment of the layoff memo," Ahmad Shoaib, a member of the electricity workers committee was quoted as saying by Lebanon's state news agency.