BEIRUT, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese protests against a government-approved economic reform plan entered its second day Wednesday.

    Hundreds of demonstrators from the General Federation of Labor Union (GFLU) gathered outside the Energy Ministry in Beirut on Wednesday as their protest entered its second day, local Naharnet news website reported.

    It is the similar protest to the one organized outside offices of a Finance Ministry department in Beirut on Tuesday. Local TV station's footage showed Tuesday that the demonstrators, shouting anti-government slogans, gathered outside the value-added tax (VAT) department of the Finance Ministry amidst strict security measures.

    GFLU President Ghassan Ghoson called on Tuesday for a sit-in to be carried out near the Energy Ministry at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Wednesday.

    Last week, the government of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora approved the six-point socio-economic recovery and reform plan which aimed at spurring economic growth and helping ease the burden of Lebanon's 41 billion U.S. dollars' public debt. It will be submitted to the Paris III donors' conference on Jan. 25.

    The plan includes tax reforms, raising VAT rates from current10 percent to 12 percent and privatizing mobile telephone and electricity sectors, which upset many of the country's workers and people of limited income.

    The GFLU sit-in has gained support from the Hezbollah-led opposition, which had been camping outside Seniora's office in downtown Beirut since December 1, demanding the formation of a national unity cabinet that would give it a veto-wielding power.

    In a statement issued on Wednesday, Hezbollah criticized the government-approved plan and urged that it "requires political accord... which we lack in light of the present political circumstances."

    The opposition "welcomes any financial or technical assistance by international donors... but it also warns against accepting any political commitments affiliated with it which would have repercussions on the Lebanese social fabric," said the statement.

    However, Lebanon's parliament majority alliance on Wednesday called on the people to hit back the Hezbollah-sponsored serial protests, saying the protests are "shuttling and boring daily folklore that does not provide solutions to the nation's problems".

    The protests "impoverish the Lebanese people, block their prosperity and the possibility of their economic recovery on the verge of the Paris III conference which is the only chance available to deal with the root economic problems," the alliance said also in a statement.