'Corruption is bigger than the state': Lebanese PM's amazing admission as he and his cabinet RESIGN over explosion that killed 160 saying he has faced a brick wall trying to bring in reforms as country teeters on the brink
Lebanon's prime minister and his cabinet resigned tonight in the wake of the devastating Beirut explosion which has killed more than 160 people.
Hassan Diab told the nation in a televised address: 'Today we are heeding the people and their demands to hold accountable those responsible for a disaster.'
The Prime Minister blamed a 'corrupt' political class that has ruled Lebanon for more than 30 years for the August 4 explosion, sparked when a warehouse fire ignited 2,750 tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate that had been stored in the city's port for six years.
Diab praised his government - assembled after previous Prime Minister Saad Hariri stepped down amid protests over corruption - for fighting 'valiantly and with dignity' to reform the country.
But he said that 'I have discovered an apparatus of corruption that is greater than the state,' heaping pressure on Hezbollah-backed President Michel Aoun who will now lead a search for his replacement.
'Between us and change is big powerful barrier,' Diab added as a parting shot.
Hassan Diab told the nation in a televised address: 'Today we are heeding the people and their demands to hold accountable those responsible for a disaster'
Firecrackers thrown by protesters explode in front of riot police amid clashes in the vicinity of the parliament in central Beirut on August 10, 2020
A demonstrator fires firecrackers during a protest in Beirut, Lebanon, August 10, 2020
A Lebanese protester uses a slingshot to hurl stones at security forces amid clashes in the vicinity of the parliament in central Beirut on August 10, 2020, following the deadly Beirut port explosion
A handout picture provided by the Lebanese photo agency Dalati and Nohra on August 10, 2020 shows Prime Minister Hassan Diab (R) submitting his resignation to President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital Beirut
Lebanese protesters run from tear gas fired by security forces today in Beirut today. Many see the blast as a symbol of corruption and incompetence among the country's elite, and protests have broken out after months of political and economic meltdown.
The devastated port of Beirut is seen in an aerial view yesterday after the explosion at a warehouse which has killed more than 160 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless
A protester throws a tear gas canister back towards Lebanese police during an anti-government protest in Beirut last night
Lebanese protesters clash with security forces for the second evening in a row near an access street to the parliament in central Beirut on Sunday
Several ministers had earlier quit the cabinet amid fury over the blast and the Hezbollah-backed President Michel Aoun - who has rejected calls for an international probe into the disaster - is also facing calls to quit.
The resignations do not force Aoun to step down but they will cause a legislative paralysis in Lebanon's French-inspired system.
Last Tuesday's disaster killed at least 163 people and destroyed swathes of the Mediterranean capital, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
Many in Lebanon see the blast as a symbol of corruption and incompetence among the country's elite, and protests have broken out with tear gas fired on protesters after months of political and economic meltdown.
Much of the fury is directed at the political elite which is backed by Hezbollah, in turn backed by Iran which has called for outside countries to refrain from 'politicising' the disaster.
Diab's cabinet, which was formed in January with the backing of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah, met on Monday with many ministers wanting to resign.
During the session, 'most of the ministers called on the government to step down,' Sport and Youth Minister Vartine Ohanian said. Another minister said Diab 'is heading towards resignation'.
Health minister Hasan added that Diab would head to the presidential palace to 'hand over the resignation in the name of all the ministers'.
The information and environment ministers quit on Sunday as well as several lawmakers, and the justice minister followed them out on Monday.
Finance minister Ghazi Wazni, a key negotiator with the IMF over a rescue plan, is believed to have gone to the cabinet meeting with a resignation letter.
Lebanon is already seeking $20billion in funding from the IMF and now faces billions more in disaster costs, with losses from the explosion estimated to be between $10billion and $15billion.
At least nine lawmakers have also announced they would quit in protest, as have two senior members of the Beirut local government.
Lebanon's system is modelled on that of former colonial power France, where the president appoints the prime minister and is not required to resign along with the cabinet.
However, Aoun is also under pressure to quit and his portrait was burned by demonstrators who burst into the foreign ministry building during angry protests at the weekend.
The country's sectarian power-sharing system requires the president to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister to be a Sunni and the parliament speaker to be a Shi'ite.
Prime minister Diab, 61, had said on Saturday that he would request early parliamentary elections.
'The entire regime needs to change. It will make no difference if there is a new government,' said Joe Haddad, a Beirut engineer. 'We need quick elections.'
Last Tuesday's blast is thought to have been caused by a stockpile of ammonium nitrate which had been left unsecured at the port since 2013.
Six days after the enormous chemical blast which was felt as far away as the island of Cyprus, residents and volunteers were still clearing the debris off the streets.
International rescue teams with sniffer dogs and specialised equipment remained at work at 'ground zero' today, where the search is now for bodies and not survivors.
The Lebanese army said today that another five bodies were pulled from the rubble with the help of Russian and French rescue teams, raising the death toll to 163.
The devastating explosion last week. An Italian expert has claimed that the brick red cloud suggests that the blast was not caused by ammonium nitrate and suggested burning armaments had instead caused the blast
The personal guard of Nabih Berri, speaker of the Lebanese parliament - shoots live rounds over the heads of protesters
Lebanese anti-government protesters try to break through a barrier placed by Lebanese police to block a road leading to the parliament building during a protest in Beirut
Italian firefighters from the NBCR (Nuclear Biological Chemical Radiological) unit inspecting a ship wreck in the port of Beirut
The explosion, which drew comparisons with the Hiroshima atom bomb 75 years ago, has also injured more than 6,000 people and left 300,000 homeless.
The disaster also sparked widespread panic over wheat shortages after 15,000 tonnes of grains were blasted out of the silos.
The cabinet decided to refer the investigation of the blast to the judicial council, the highest legal authority whose rulings cannot be appealed.
Lebanon's president had previously said explosive material was stored unsafely for years at the port.
He said an investigation would consider whether the cause was external interference as well as negligence or an accident.
'There are two possible scenarios for what happened: it was either negligence or foreign interference through a missile or bomb,' he said last Friday.
The shipment of ammonium nitrate was officially destined for Mozambique when it sailed on the cargo ship Rhosus in 2013, but the vessel made an unscheduled stop in Beirut where the chemicals were impounded.
The captain of the Rhosus claims he was told to stop in Beirut to pick up extra cargo - while Mozambique has denied all knowledge of the shipment.
Cypriot police said on Thursday that they had questioned Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin over his alleged links the ship and its cargo.
Russian emergency personnel walk on the site of the explosion in the port of Beirut, where rescuers are continuing their recovery efforts nearly a week after the blast
Beirut's governor said many foreign workers and truck drivers remained missing and were assumed to be among the casualties.
Anti-government protests in the past two days have been the biggest since October, when demonstrators took to the streets over the country's economic crisis.
The personal bodyguard of top official Nabih Berry was pictured firing live rounds at protesters over the weekend as fury over the Beirut explosion threatens to spark a revolution.
Sporting jeans and a black top, the Hezbollah-linked bodyguard pointed a shotgun at swarms of demonstrators yesterday afternoon and fired in their direction as huge protests rocked the Lebanese capital.
Protesters accused the political elite of siphoning off state resources after last week mobbing French president Emmanuel Macron with demands for reform.
'If reforms are not carried out, Lebanon will continue to sink,' Macron said after being met at the airport by President Aoun last week.
France has always maintained close ties with Lebanon, which was administered by France under a League of Nations mandate until 1943 when it gained independence.
Officials have estimated losses of around $15billion from the explosion, a bill which Lebanon cannot afford after already defaulting on sovereign debt.
Eli Abi Hanna's house and his car repair shop were destroyed in the blast.
'The economy was already a disaster and now I have no way of making money again,' he said. 'It was easier to make money during the civil war. The politicians and the economic disaster have ruined everything.'
Wreckage lies in front of destroyed grain silos in the port of Beirut, three days after the devastating explosion in the Lebanese capital
A helicopter tries to put out a fire at the scene of last Tuesday's blast, which is thought to have been caused by a stockpile of ammonium nitrate which had been left unsecured at the port since 2013
Some Lebanese doubt change is possible in a country where sectarian politicians have dominated since the 1975-90 conflict.
'It won't work, it's just the same people. It's a mafia,' said Antoinette Baaklini, an employee of an electricity company that was demolished in the blast.
Workers picked up fallen masonry near the building where wall graffiti mocked Lebanon's chronic electricity crisis: 'Everyone else in the world has electricity while we have a donkey.'
'It will always be the same. It is just a political game, nothing will change,' said university student Marilyne Kassis.
An emergency international donor conference on Sunday raised pledges worth nearly 253 million euros ($298 million) for immediate humanitarian relief.
But foreign countries demand transparency over how the aid is used, wary of writing blank cheques to a government perceived by its own people as deeply corrupt.
Some are concerned about the influence of Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Monday that countries should refrain from politicising the port blast. He called on the United States to lift sanctions against Lebanon.
Lebanese, meanwhile, are struggling to come to terms with the scale of losses. Entire neighbourhoods were wrecked.
'It is very sad. We are burying people every day. Forty percent of my church have lost their businesses,' said a priest.
'Corruption is bigger than the state': Lebanese PM's amazing admission as he and his cabinet RESIGN over explosion that killed 160 saying he has faced a brick wall trying to bring in reforms as country teeters on the brink
!['Corruption is bigger than the state': Lebanese PM's amazing admission as he and his cabinet RESIGN over explosion that killed 160 saying he has faced a brick wall trying to bring in reforms as country teeters on the brink]()
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