Lebanese wants to be recolonized after losing faith in their government

About 5,000 Lebanese took to the streets of Beirut on Saturday to demonstrate the government’s handling of last week’s devastating explosion in the city breaking through a barrier to get to the parliament building.

Tuesday’s blast in the port, the biggest explosion in Beirut‘s history, killed 154 people, injured 5,000 and destroyed a swathe of the city. The government has promised to hold those responsible to account.

The demonstrators gathered in Martyrs’ Square in the city centre, some throwing stones. They chanted “the people want the fall of the regime,” and held posters saying “Leave, you are all killers.”

One demonstrator identified as Rose Sirour said;

We want a future with dignity, we don’t want the blood of the victims of the explosion wasted.

Some residents complain the government they see as corrupt – there had been months of protests against its handling of a deep economic crisis before this week’s disaster – has let them down again.

We have no trust in our government, said university student Celine Dibo as she scrubbed blood off the walls of her shattered apartment building. I wish the United Nations would take over Lebanon.

Several people said they were not at all surprised that French President Emmanuel Macron had visited their gutted neighbourhoods this week while Lebanese leaders had not.

We are living in ground zero. I hope another country would just take us over. Our leaders are a bunch of corrupt people, said psychologist Maryse Hayek, 48, whose parents’ house was destroyed in the explosion.

Lebanon’s Kataeb Party, a Christian group that opposes the government backed by the Iran-aligned Hezbollah, announced on Saturday the resignation of its three lawmakers from parliament.

I invite all honourable (lawmakers) to resign so that the people can decide who will govern them, without anybody imposing anything to them, said party chief Samy Gemayel, announcing the move during the funeral of a leading member of the group who died in the explosion.

Macron, who visited Beirut on Thursday, promised angry crowds that aid to rebuild the city would not fall into “corrupt hands”. He will host a donor conference for Lebanon via video-link on Sunday, his office said.

The prime minister and presidency have said 2,750 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, which is used in making fertilisers and bombs, had been stored for six years without safety measures at the port warehouse.

President Michel Aoun said on Friday an investigation would examine whether it was caused by a bomb or other external interference. Aoun said the investigation would also weigh if the blast was due to negligence or an accident. Twenty people had been detained so far, he added.