The protests shaking the streets of Beirut are starting to generate some reactions. The head of the Lebanon's Information portfolio, Manal Abdel Samad, was the first of the 30 ministers that make up the Government to present her resignation this Sunday. "I apologize to the Lebanese people whose aspirations we have been unable to fulfill," said the minister before leaving office in response to popular outrage against the Lebanese political elite, which this Saturday reached its peak after nine months of protests with a balance of a police officer killed and more than 728 injured by the clashes between security forces and protesters. A few hours later, the Minister of the Environment, Demianos Qattar, joined the domino effect of resignations while those of Defense; Zeina Adra, Interior; Mohammed Fahmi and Finance; Ghazi Wazni have expressed their intention to abandon their positions. The colossal explosion of a warehouse with 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut last Tuesday has left 159 dead and more than 6,000 injured and caused the definitive explosion.
The assistants demand the exit en bloc of the political elite that they blame for the accident and whose shock wave has also shaken Parliament, where nine of the 128 deputies have already submitted their resignation. On Sunday afternoon, some 2,000 protesters returned to Parliament to demand the fall of the government and early elections, a demand launched on Saturday by Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who proposed advancing the elections as the "only way out" to the situation. Security forces and protesters have once again engaged in an exchange of tear gas, rubber bullets and stones this Sunday.
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"The people must take over the state institutions because the government we have lives in neglect and has not done anything in nine months in office," an ecstatic Karim Bitar, a protester, shouted on Saturday night at the gates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. in his thirties, a few hours before being forcibly evicted by the Lebanese Army. "The international community should not give a single pound to that group of corrupt [by politicians]," the protesters asked in reference to the conference of donors for Lebanon that France has led this Sunday and which has gathered more than 250 million aid urgent. On Saturday afternoon, thousands of protesters took control of the Foreign, Economy and Environment Ministries, where they set fire and looted the archives.
"Join us against this useless government that has killed your relatives and has stolen everything from us!" A young protester in riot gear implored on Sunday afternoon. The blood shed by Lebanese citizens, including that of Alessandra, a three-year-old girl who has become the face of popular anger, along with the 300,000 residents who have been homeless in the most affected neighborhoods, has shocked the country. The fear of armed clashes between followers of traditional parties and anti-corruption protesters has been raised.
Lebanese Prime Minister Hasan Diab himself called for early elections on Saturday afternoon. Proposal seconded today by the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Béchara Boutros Rai: "It is necessary, out of respect for the feelings of the Lebanese and for the immense responsibility required, that the entire Government resign, because it has been unable to move the country forward" . "We are making intense efforts to ensure sufficient resignations in Parliament [and dissolve the Government] so that early elections can be held," said Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces party, which has 15 seats in the chamber. .
