TEL AVIV, Dec 22: Several hundreds members of the disbanded Israeli-backed militia in southern Lebanon clashed with Israeli police on Sunday in a heated demonstration outside the offices of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

The former members of the defunct South Lebanon Army (SLA) were protesting at cuts in their living allowances, as Israel tightens its belt in the worst economic crisis in its 54-year history.

The demonstrators protested that they had been “abandoned” by former premier Ehud Barak, who ended the more than 20-year Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in May 2000, and “humiliated” by Sharon, who has slashed allowances to his former auxiliaries.

The protest turned violent when demonstrators tried to break through security barriers outside Sharon’s offices and clashed with police, leaving five people slightly hurt and several ex-members of the SLA led away in handcuffs.

Following Israel’s troop pullout from Lebanon, around 6,500 members of the SLA and their families fled for fear of reprisals by the Hezbollah or criminal charges.

Since then, more than half have returned home in small groups.—AFP