Newsbrief: Prime Minister of Lebanon steps down amid public protests

by Josh Giaquinto

(Photo: The New York Times)

Saad Hariri, the prime minister of Lebanon, announced on Tuesday, during a televised speech that he and his cabinet will resign after protests called for his removal from office, according to The New York Times

The protests were calling for an overthrow of the entire political class. Some protesters are not satisfied with only Hariri and his cabinet resigning, saying, “All of them means all of them.”

The protests started as response to the government putting a tax on social media use. It began with small protests and became so large that as much as a quarter of the Lebanese population was protesting. Major roads were blocked despite attempts by the Lebanese army to re open them, and schools and banks were closed.

This comes after a scandal involving the prime minister which damaged his public reputation in Lebanon. Before he was prime minister, Hariri reportedly gave $16 million to a South African supermodel he was having a love affair with. The controversy emerged while Lebanon started to experience a financial crisis.