over one million Lebanese crowded the streets around the office of Lebanese Prime Minister Fu’ad Siniora in central Beirut yesterday, calling for his resignation.
In response to Hezbollah’s call for peaceful demonstrations, they brandished Lebanese flags and white banners that read: ‘We want a clean government.’
Lebanese Army troops and armoured vehicles were heavily deployed around the perimeter of the building, and barbed wire reaching nearly two metres high encircled the premises.
When protesters glimpsed Siniora appearing briefly on the balcony, they began shouting, ‘Out, out Siniora!’ ‘We don’t want any influence from the United States.’
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s deputy, Sheikh Naim Kassem, said the protests would not end until Siniora’s government fell.
Kassem warned: ‘This government will not take Lebanon to the abyss. We have several steps if this government does not respond but I tell them you will not be able to rule Lebanon with an American administration.’
