Lebanon government stands down over blast fallout
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced his government’s resignation Monday under a barrage of pressure over the catastrophic Beirut port explosion six days earlier that has reignited angry street protests.
“I announce the resignation of the government,” Diab said at the end of a televised speech in which he tried to portray himself also as a victim of a corrupt political elite.
The announcement was met with cars honking in the streets and celebratory fire in the northern city of Tripoli but it was unlikely to meet long-term expectations of Lebanese.
Even as Diab spoke, security forces in central Beirut clashed for a third night with protesters demanding an end to an entrenched political system widely seen as inept, corrupt and dominated by sectarian interests and family dynasties.
France, whose President Emmanuel Macron visited Beirut after the blast, called for the “rapid formation” of a new government.
“The aspirations expressed by the Lebanese in terms of reforms and governance must be heard,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said, adding that a new government would have to “prove itself” to the people.
According to the health ministry, at least 160 people were killed in Lebanon’s worst peacetime disaster, 6,000 injured and about 20 remained missing after the August 4 disaster blamed on official negligence.
