Demonstrations continue throughout the country. Reforms proposed by Hariri rejected. Muslims, Christians, Druze, men and women are united by wanting to expel "the thieving and unpunished government". Overcoming confessional divisions. Hezbollah militant criticizes Hassan Nasrallah. Yesterday Central Bank employees worked for four hours, transferring large deposits of many politicians to foreign accounts. The governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh, branded as "the manager of US policy" in Lebanon.
Beirut (AsiaNews) - The spontaneous uprising of the Lebanese people continues, which broke out a week ago on 17 October. All attempts by politicians, including the reform package proposed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, have been futile.
The Lebanese people are now immune to the morphine of false promises and are determined to go all the way: to the fall of the government, to the arrest of politicians and to the recovery of the money they have stolen for decades: a figure calculated at 360 billion dollars.
The number of protesters of all denominations, age and sex grew steadily throughout the night. The absence of quarrels, fights or any other type of similar episodes that usually occur among heterogeneous masses gathered in the midst of confusion is astonishing many. The people are all united, "one hand"; they all have one goal: to expel "the thieving and unpunished government"; everyone wants the same thing: "dignity, social justice, a new secular country" and above all "normality".
The Land of the Cedars has never experienced such an evolution, the children of this country have finally become a people, no longer divided by confessional psychoses sown for decades by those who govern them. These people are looking beyond, even towards an absolute sovereignty for the new Lebanon.
The timid criticism of Hassan Nasrallah and Nabih Berri, or criticism of Iran, is getting stronger even in Baalbek, which has always been a Shiite feud. A Hezbollah militant, who fought against Daesh in the mountains on the border with Syria, broadcast his words against the Hezbollah general secretary on live television saying: "Nasrallah, you are not God!".
This taboo also shattered in the square of Tripoli, where a protester burned the Hezbollah flag. The man was immediately stopped by the majority of protesters - Sunnis - who despite being opposed to Hezbollah - condemned the gesture because it could be interpreted as an insult to the Shiites and provoke a confessional division.
Iran is not the only one to lose, but also the US and those that the protesters define their "puppets" in Beirut.
Sources - who wish to remain anonymous - revealed to AsiaNews that yesterday, despite the banks being closed, some employees of the Central Bank worked for four hours, transferring large deposits of many politicians to foreign accounts.
The demonstrations in central Beirut were concentrated yesterday around the headquarters of the government and on the way to the banks.
For the first time since the beginning of what is now called the "Intifada of the Lebanese people", slogans have been launched against Riad Salameh, the Central Bank governor, shouting "In jail!" America!".
Salameh is considered by protesters "the manager of US policy" in Lebanon, the "maneuverer and protector of politicians", "accomplice to all financial flaws and corruption", "responsible for the cash crisis, the fluctuation and disappearance of US dollars on the market ".
"No corrupt politician can make any economic transaction without the endorsement and knowledge of the central bank," Shiite demonstrator Beirut Ali told AsiaNews.