July 10, 1984

Beirut was paralyzed today as protesters demanding action to free kidnapped relatives blocked roads and crossing points between the Moslem and Christian sectors. The protests were largely limited to West Beirut, but both Christians and Moslems demonstrated near the crossings. Tonight a group that said it represented the protesting families announced that it would end the blockades, which began Sunday, to give the new Government an opportunity to act on Wednesday, when a Cabinet meeting is scheduled. Today's protests forced the closing of the Beirut International Airport only hours after it had been reopened for the first time in five months.

Unfilled orders for business telephone installations grew 16% in June, A.T.&T. said. Page D6. State utility regulators, overwhelmed by the task of carrying out the breakup of the nationwide Bell telephone system, are slowing the pace of Federal telephone deregulation and demanding more control in its execution. As a result, the quick doubling or tripling of local telephone rates that was predicted when the American Telephone and Telegraph Company got rid of its local operating companies will probably occur much more gradually, if at all. But some of the expected benefits of deregulation, such as lower long-distance rates, may be much slower in coming.

MINNEAPOLISIn sponsoring the report ''A Nation at Risk,'' the Federal Government helped give birth to one of the most extensive debates on public education that the country has seen, a round of discussions that critics of the schools say was overdue. But members of the country's largest teachers' organization, 7,000 of whom gathered here last week for the annual meeting of the National Education Association, are angry and fearful about what they hear being said. They are especially bitter toward the Reagan Administration. They feel that teachers are being unfairly criticized and that some proposed solutions for what ails the schools are ill-founded and a threat to the teaching profession.

New York State employees will conduct drives in motor vehicle offices, unemployment lines and social service offices to register voters in time for the November elections, under an executive order signed today by Governor Cuomo. ''State agencies having frequent contacts with the public should be available to help people wishing to participate fully in the democratic process,'' Mr. Cuomo said. But Republican officials responded that the plan was intended to help Democratic candidates in November, and that services might deteriorate as state employees are diverted to register voters. Governor's Neutrality Questioned ''I frankly don't trust Mario Cuomo to be neutral,'' said George Clark, the Republican state chairman. ''Let the Democratic Party go out there to register Democrats. We'll go out there and register Republicans.''

President Reagan said he did not think the Rev. Jesse Jackson violated the law in arranging for release of prisoners in Cuba. Page A16. By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM Although three-quarters of the blacks who voted in Democratic Presidential primaries this year voted for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, black Democrats prefer Walter F. Mondale to Mr. Jackson as the party's Presidential nominee by a margin of 5 to 3, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. The poll indicated there would be little effect on the Mondale vote if Mr. Jackson did not support Mr. Mondale in a race against President Reagan in November, a step Mr. Jackson hinted again over the weekend he might take if the party convention did not satisfy him on positions he advocated. Only 4 percent of Jackson supporters indicated they would be less likely to vote for Mr. Mondale or less likely to vote at all if Mr. Jackson did not endorse Mr. Mondale.