Lebanons prime minister stepped down from his job on Monday in the wake of the disastrous Beirut port explosion that triggered publ
BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon’s prime minister stepped down from his job on Monday in the wake of the disastrous Beirut port explosion that triggered public fury, saying he has come to the conclusion that corruption in Lebanon is « bigger than the state. » In a brief televised speech after three of his ministers resigned,Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that he is taking « a step back » so he can stand with the people « and fight the battle for change alongside them ». « I declare today the resignation of this government. May God protect Lebanon, » he said, repeating the last phrase three times. « Diab’s resignation seems unlikely to appease protesters who have been calling for a complete overhaul of the country’s confessional political system, said FRANCE 24’s Leila Molana-Allen reporting from Beirut shortly after the prime minister’s televised address. « Protests erupted since just before Hassan Diab’s speech. There had been protests even before that, but it started to get quite violent over the past half-hour, » said Molana-Allen. « Protesters seem to have lost their sense of fear, there’s a fearlessness in the air now. It’s clear from the reaction to Hassan Diab’s resignation that they don’t just want a change in government, they mean this system, under which they believe it’s completely impossible to achieve a government that will actually look after the needs of the Lebanese people. » The prime minister’s resignation was accepted by Lebanese President Michel Aoun, who asked the current government to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is formed, a televised announcement said. Based on past experience, such as the October 2019 resignation of Saad Hariri as prime minister, Molana-Allen explained that Diab’s cabinet could « remain in place as a caretaker government and then the current parliament, which was elected in 2018, looks and tries to elect another prime minister who then puts a new cabinet together ». Anti-government protests Diab’s resignation throws Lebanon into another period of uncertainty amid urgent calls for reform. It follows a weekend of anti-government protests in the wake of the Aug.4 explosion in Beirut’s port that decimated the facility and caused widespread destruction, killing at least 160 people and injured about 6,000 others. The moment typified Lebanon’s political dilemma. Since October, there have been mass demonstrations demanding the departure of the entire sectarian-based leadership over entrenched corruption, incompetence and mismanagement. Lebanese PM quits: ‘Hassan Diab has no excuses’ But the ruling oligarchy has held onto power for so long – since the end of the civil war in 1990 – that it is difficult to find a credible political figure not tainted by connections to them.
