Civil servants and teachers in both the public and private sectors staged a nationwide strike on Monday to warn the government against cutting their salaries or reducing their end-of-service benefits as part of its 2019 austerity budget.

Lebanon's judges and employees at the Customs Department have also carried on their strike on Monday to protest the government's austerity plans that would harm them.

The Union Coordination Committee (UCC) had called for a protest at the Riad al-Solh Square at 15:00, stressing that salaries and social benefits are a red line that must not be crossed.

The UCC threatened to stage an open-ended strike and to opt for escalation measures, that would include the boycotting of official exams, if the government fails to pay heed to their demands.

The Cabinet has been discussing the 2019 draft budget; one that has been shrouded by speculations amid the top officials' repeated warnings of "hard decisions" that should be taken in a bid to rescue the country's ailing economy.

One of the austere measures that has been rumored lately is the reduction of the salaries and end-of service benefits of civil servants; a plan that infuriated the public sector employees and gave rise to street tensions.