Prime Minister Saad Hariri's resignation fails to calm protests
The Lebanese again paralyzed the country today, on the fifteenth consecutive day of protests, to call for the collapse of the entire regime, after yesterday Lebanese President Michel Aoun urged the resignation prime minister, Saad Hariri, and his government to continue dispatching either interimly.
Thousands of demonstrators again blocked the main access routes to the capital in the early morning with camping tents, furniture or sofas, as they have been doing since the beginning of the protests, more than two weeks ago.
Yesterday, the country experienced for the first time a day of normalcy since October 17, when protests began, following the resignation of the prime minister, but tension returned to the streets after the Lebanese president urged Hariri to continue the affairs of Go bierno until its replacement.
After an early morning clashbetween protesters and security forces, this morning the Army managed to reopen some roads connecting Beirut with the north of the country and the Ring, the capital's main ring road, after negotiating with some protesters who did not resist.
In the south, cities like Sidon remain blocked by protesters, after security forces last night attempted to disperse the concentrates with tear gas and charges that caused at least three injuries, according to the Lebanese Red Cross.
Some of the eastern routes remain closed by militants from Hariri's Party, Current of the Future, outraged by the resignation of the prime minister and calling for the collapse of the entire regime.
Yesterday, Education Minister Akram Chehaybe announced the reopening of educational institutions, which remain closed from the start of the protests, as well as shops, banks and some public institutions.
"Lo más indignante fue que ordenaran la reaertura de colegios, universidades e instituciones dando a entender que la situación se normalizó y que nada pasaba, mientras que nosotros nos estamos sacrificando desde el 17 para tener un paÃs digno y poder vivir con dignidad", told Efe Adib, a university student from Beirut.
This afternoon, Aoun plans to deliver a message to the nation at 20 a.m. local time (18.00 GMT), on the occasion of half of his presidential term, in which he will address the situation in the country following the latest developments.
Protests kicked off on October 17, after the government announced its intention to charge for phone calls via free internet messaging services.
Although the government decided to withdraw the measure, thousands of people then took to the streets in a rising tide that demands the exit of politicians, an end to corruption and solutions to the country's plight economic situation.
They call for an end to the political regime which establishes a sectarian distribution of institutions and which has plunged the country into political and economic precariousness, with a debt of about $86 billion, representing about 150% of GDP.
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