Beirut activists resolute

EUPHORIC: PROTESTERS PARTY AS LEBANON’S PRIME MINISTER RESIGNS

Hariri’s decision to step down has not been accepted by government.

Beirut

The resignation of Lebanon’s government, under pressure from the street, looked set to ease a two-week-old nationwide lockdown but protesters vowed they would keep pushing for deeper change.

President Michel Aoun has not yet accepted Saad Hariri’s resignation as prime minister, with no clear solution emerging to a fresh political crisis that has drawn warnings from Lebanon’s foreign partners.

Security forces reopened roads that had remained mostly blocked since a proposed tax on calls via messaging apps sparked a wave of demonstrations on October 17.

The unprecedented mobilisation swelled into a popular drive to remove a political elite which has remained largely unchanged since the end of the civil war three decades ago.

Euphoric protesters experiencing a rare moment of national unity have pilloried politicians of all parties, calling for better public services, an end to rampant corruption and a complete overhaul of sectarian-based politics.

When a sombre Hariri appeared on television on Tuesday to announce his resignation, crowds erupted into celebratory chants but said the government’s fall was only one of their demands.

“The resignation is not enough to get us off the streets,” said Charbel, 26, who was still protesting in central Beirut yesterday. “We need to keep up the pressure, but should not keep the roads closed because now it’s bothering even the people who were supporting the movement.”

Hariri’s resignation came after counter-demonstrators loyal to some of his political rivals attacked the main protest site in the capital’s Martyr’s Square.

They destroyed the temporary infrastructure that has turned downtown Beirut into a huge encampment, hosting protests and political meetings by day, concerts and parties by night.

Well-organised protesters swiftly cleaned up and returned to the site, occupying the main flyover again on Tuesday evening.

Some protesters laid out carpets and sofas, some slept in hammocks hung between traffic signals and others brought goal posts to set up a football pitch across the four-lane highway.

By yesterday, having won the government’s resignation, protesters were divided over whether to remove roadblocks, which they see as one of the few sources of leverage for their leaderless and spontaneous movement.

Hariri’s resignation came after days of consultations with his fractious Cabinet to agree on a reshuffle and meet some of the protesters’ demands.

Early in the protests, Hariri had hinted that resigning was an option but his rivals in the government coalition warned a political vacuum could lead to chaos. – AFP