This archive report was first published on 31 October 2019.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Saad Hariri's government resigned, a move met with cheers from protesters demanding the removal of a corrupt and incompetent political class.
However, die-hard protesters are reluctant to lose one of their few forms of leverage to press demands that go beyond the cabinet's resignation.
"Giving up is out of the question," said Tarek Badoun, a 38-year-old demonstrator blocking the main flyover in central Beirut.
As the protests continue, the country is facing a phase of acute political uncertainty, with a power-sharing system organized along communal and sectarian lines.
President Michel Aoun has asked Hariri's government to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new one can be formed, but Lebanon's donors say the debt-ridden country can ill afford the delay.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian emphasized the need for a new government to be formed rapidly to carry out the reforms the country needs.
According to press reports, consultations for the formation of a new government are barely under way, with a rift between Hariri and his coalition rivals.
