Hundreds of Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) supporters marched toward the Grand Serail Thursday to express their discontent with the Lebanese government, as a heated cabinet session took place.

Hundreds of Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) supporters marched toward the Grand Serail Thursday to express their discontent with the Lebanese government, as a heated cabinet session took place.

The tensed session started with a shouting match between Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, an FPM minister.

Reporters and photographers were kicked out of the session because of the argument that erupted over differing interpretations of the Constitution.

The meeting ended about four and a half hours later, with an agreement to postpone discussions to a session scheduled for July 23, following Eid al-Fitr, which falls at the end of next week.

Ministers managed to suppress tensions and pass one agenda item relating to supplying funds to Lebanese public hospitals.

Meanwhile, and outside the Grand Serail, huindreds of FPM supporters were staging a sit-in in protest against the Lebanese government’s mechanism of taking decisions in light of the presidential vacuum.

The army and security forces had bolstered their presence in the area in anticipation of any security development, blocking all roads leading to the Grand Serail.

Bassil and Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, both FPM-aligned, headed to the protesters soon after the end of the cabinet session.

The demonstrators soon began clearing the area at the end of the session.

Earlier in June, PM Salam had previously canceled three ministerial sessions after Bassil and Bou Saab stated that Cabinet should not discuss pertinent agenda issues until the matter of security appointments had been resolved.