This week the port city of karachi has been the hardest hit by the coronavirus the government says. They are alive now to lebanons Prime Minister who is making an announcement lets listen in. To. But it was still living around in that catastrophic that hit lebanon a catastrophic a that hit all of us in the heart due to the corruption in politics and administration and the whole state i have said before that the corruption system is deep there all over the place and i discovered that the corruption system is bigger than the state and the state is suffering from that sort of corruption the state and the country cannot face that corruption one of the types of this corruption has exploded in the beirut pulled the catastrophic hits all of us we have so many of the models in every place and the threat is big. Fraid of so many other types of corruption that my attempts lebanon within the protection of the elite who controls the fate and future of the gun tray those elites who live on the rift and trade with them bishan zone holds of people according to the calculations of the courting to the different agenda today we are facing a massive catastrophic event and all the powers that are key to the future and the welfare of the country should Work Together should cooperate together should keep silent should be mourning the lives of the motss should be more negin respect of those mothers who lost their. Husbands and those wives who lost the husbands of those mothers who lost their sons they should work to find a place for the displaced people they must have done that. Catastrophic is massive is beyond description but some of us live in a different era and different atmosphere that only care about scoring points and about talking to the people in the sort of enthusiasm you know to hit that remaining of the country the shame on them they should feel the shame because there are corruption has shown us this catastrophic and god only knows what the other catastrophic is that the hidden within their corruption and their corruption they are used to change the words to change the facts but what we need now is to change them because they are the real trouble they are the real catastrophic the real crisis in lebanon and they have changed so many times in the past every time i am people are about to get rid of their corruption they change their skin they havent read the revolution of the lebanese in 2019 this live illusion was again this them they havent understood properly this revolution they continue their practices they continue their calculations their thoughts their they can overcome the changes and the holds and the aspirations of the lebanese people in a strong country in a fair judiciary in fighting corruption and putting an end to financial policies that. Have taken the country to the edge of being broken they the policy is have put the country under massive debt thats why a kid gnomic and so will surely collapse is there and at the same time those people weeks after forming this government have tried to throw their sins on the government and blame the government for all the corruption for all their mistakes this is true shame on them and shame on them this government has exerted a lot of efforts to put a roadmap to risk you know this country every minister in this cabinets in this government has played. His maximum has exerted the maximum effort because we are all keen on our people and the future of our people we dont have any personal interest what we are keen on is still risk you our country we have been on the campaigns of accusations but we refused to be dragged into. None sense because we need to work and we need to work hard those people havent stopped at attacking us changing the facts to protect themselves and to cover the their mistakes. We have carried out on the change in lebanon according to the wishes of the lebanese people but a lot of problems all over the place because these matters are being protected and simple wilted in the dirty mind by this elite because they have the ability to do so. I mean we face lift fight we are literally fight. This fight is not. Equally we are alone they are old together they have used all the weapons against us they have changed their reality is they have changed the facts they have spread the rumors that the people who lie is they have committed every sin because they know that we are at threat to them they know that our success means the real change in this elite those people have been there for decades and their bad smell is all over the place today we are here in this particular point in this earthquake that hit lebanon with over the social human and economic and National Consequences our main goal our main aim is to deal with these consequences to gether with a quick investigation that will hold everyone responsible if committed mistakes we are now talking to the people we are now defending on the people hopes to take this people to the coolant we need to change and we with the ambitions of the lip and these people to bring that change we need to move forward to the transparent say to a country that respects its people to a country that lives within transparency to a country that lives within says but now we are not we are not and at this particular moment we have to go back to the people to fight with them against corruption with you to open the door for National Salvage not the risk you. We need to be part of the people thats why i declared today the resignation of this government god bless lebanon god bless lebanon 1. 11 on sub Prime Minister former Prime Minister hassan dia there he had been in the role since january 2020 just to recap what we had from him he said the state cannot deal with this level of corruption he said said that corruption was what was to blame for the port explosion he said hes afraid for other types of corruption he talked about you know some people in the face of this tragedy talking about the port explosion only care about political point scoring interesting late he talks about the political elite saying they havent had not read the revolution of october 29 team that some people have tried to blame the government for all of the mistakes that have happened he reiterated that his government has tried he talked about the political elites stopping change blocking change from happening he said they used all of their weapons against us lets go live now i believe we can bring in Bernard Smith who is on the streets of beirut but it also has an idea there has officially resigned what happens now. While hes signed to the president and now we have to see if the new cabinets and the new Prime Minister come be appointed or not so that those negotiations are going on at the moment we understand there are 2 names in frame saad hariri that something of out with the new and in with the old he was the former Prime Minister who resigned only back in january and resigned under enormous International Pressure as the country economy collapsed because of the Banking System collapsed and the currency lost now lost 80 percent of its value he would not be a popular choice it would see. Another name in the frame is now off salaam hes a former diplomat currently a judge of the International Court of justice he is more acceptable we could say of those who are calling for change in the 11 on but one previous occasions when his name has been moved so it has a line policies as well on its allied policies rejected him so theres a lot of horse trading likely to be going on but we know though that what we do know is that the opposition in the past have refused to work with this now cabinet had taken up with it has dominated on its ally parties dominates a cabinet position hasnt well wouldnt work with them so unless there is some way forward that can be some sort of agreements that can be reached between these parties that is the only way you might get what the International Community wants which is some sort of government of National Unity shrine begins a whole levon on the outs of this crisis my chrono suggested Something Like that you warms all lebanese Political Parties to Work Together and they be satisfied that theyve shown they can do that only badly with the billions of dollars in aid that this country needs but not might begin to be unlocked but what were saying next year is not images from bear or lines of of riot Police Walking down the street doesnt look like theres a lot of protesters at least not in the frame that we can see. That side by side in further away a bit of tear gas being being sung around whats the situation on the ground in terms of protests compared to previous nights. Well as the Prime Minister was speaking there was d a confrontation near pollens and riot police use a lot of tear gas to force them back now to jump start with. Some more im not as well ive been happening when theyve tried to get so. Close to them that have been fairly ruthlessly pushed back is a seam of scene repeated over the last couple of nights they are has to be said on a fairly small scale in comparison with protests past and well im just the police as i say use these large quantities of gas to push protesters back but most of the people in beirut most of the people who want in lebanon have been so exhausted by what happened on tuesday and what was not moving money in more than one that concentrating so in these last few days on trying to live 352300000 people. Homeless and if you know homeless youre probably living in an apartment with shops and windows and youre trying to find work youre trying to find food youre trying to fix up your home so most people have other priorities at the moment but theres no disguise in the anger frustration and despondency that people speak that weve been speaking to the last few days as we see them trying to pick up their lives after tuesdays protest. About i want you to say. This about if you need to know what the pictures that were looking at from around the city they do give the sense that you know something is having something significant is happening in lebanon now we have been announcing his resignation as you say were waiting to head the details of a possible caretaker government and the people who may replace him just remind us also. How we got to this point i mean obviously you know we have this massive explosion people are saying this is the fault of the political elite this is the result of negligence this is the result of corruption in fact thats what self said in his address but the country has been in turmoil for some time. It was because id culminating in tuesdays explosion about Ammonium Nitrate in consequence of a political role in the corruption in this country has suffered in the last 30 to 4050 years because of the political elites that have divvied up the main sources of income here the Electricity Company the Water Company the Telecoms Company the ports was a major cash cow a warm Secular Group of peoples because of the customs duties of the right that they were able to skim off home on goods coming into the polls and the problem is its the people protesting tonight and those others who are protesting too many people in beirut who want to see the government change or want to see political change here its extremely difficult with the Current System to affect it because they love it and electoral system is set so its geared to protect the political elites that run the country they want to run. You have to be appointed or overseen by 1 oclock political elite troops and to make to change the system politically. Scuse me to change our system those political elites have to agree to it. Spoken to today people who are involved in lebanese politics even an explosion as catastrophic as the one that was on tuesday might not be enough probably wouldnt be enough to get those elites to easily give up that grip on power and that is why its International Pressure people believe is necessary to force those people who control lebanon to give up power and to change the way this country is going to have talked a little bit later about some analysts standing by about that kind of side of things that they entered the role of of Foreign Countries but just tell me you have been there a few days one of the people on the ground been telling you what did they believe will happen what should happen after this horrific tragedy. Well people initially were calling for at the very least an election. We have a lot of just not having heard a suggestion if theres going to be. And i like she. Basically that theres going to be a change in happiness and i would have to create an election for the people here they want nothing less than a new election thats at the very least might get somebody to even change but as ive explained it even then when there is a new election the way the system is set up is that those who win those who stand for parliament are representatives essentially represented by a sect. Is a professional electoral system and the elites that that they put it with essentially govern this country after a group of those people so that they want to cause real political change they want people to govern for the lebanese rather than themselves for the Political Parties. To make sure to deliver that to see that as i said before that is why. Many people here believe the only International Pressure will force those people to run lebanon. That people talk about sanctioning individuals sanctioning groups to force them to make change where lebanese say they want to train for their time on their own to nationalize ok benedict will get you to stand by levy this a now thanks so much for that brought in smith our correspondent who is live there on the ground in beirut we can go now to heiko women he is the project director for iraq syria and lebanon at the International Crisis group thank you for coming back on the program i believe you were able to listen to. Address his speech that he made as he announced that the government is stepping down what do you make of what he had to say. Well i mean its of course the full attack or political leader of the country or the whole reason you listen to him and ill at least listen to him and thought. Almost instantly i mean what were you thinking when you took that job because it was very clear in january that this government of socalled independent will of course not independence that the existing Political Forces were a bargaining or was lots of government. Places to retain their influence and some are so you have people to think that that he could still act independently that he in fact. Carry out what the revolution as i asked had asked for and i was. And has little to say mary but it was certainly divorced from reality and was not something that he could do. When he talked about the political elite being they are stopping change they were blocking change from happening he said they used all of their weapons against us who is this day that he is talking about when you think political elite private you think the Prime Minister how is he not part of the political elite who is the day that hes talking about. Thats a good question indeed. And around i suspect you know here that many lebanese believe that think they means everybody but their own political leaders now and not in in october last but for when the when the movement happening the most reactions happened the rallying call called will with all means all of them have to go and there were people who are ready to to denounce political leaders therefore before they were there were people who were ready to denounce political leaders who claim that they represent a sectarian group that these people want to the so that there was a big step forward but but the bottom line is. Does this political players all work according to the same logic or have interest in keeping the system as it is. So much to the extent that the government the government made efforts to break through that it was part of let me tell my friends i mean i wouldnt completely discount what they were doing i mean steps in the right direction but it isnt likely rightly so or. They stopped or with stuart we waived it for be able to implement any of this d simply because because against the president of lebanon is there is a multi confessional state as its called but many call it political sectarianism sealing these Patronage Networks which i guess is what you were talking about there which is what has given rise to this entrenched corruption this entrenched political elite is there any discussion about changing that very system changing that proportional representation system. So that there is a common narrative of im not just sort of what extent are the ones described think what what is created the system is 11 all. Came out of it for the ringback war in 1900 people who basically talk power in the postwar order where the war lords write the war its all part of the civil war who traded for tiegs so who is the pigs which for d suits who brought it there are some of them vicious and who stayed up routers and converted their want time systems or power bases of power into orbit into a base of power in the state and they brought in some people with International Relations money a lot of people work or so and this is and they run it that way lol cultists i mean who think a science perspective or captured states or states captured by several groups of former warlords and those people are arguing or that are proposing that they are defending interests of the sectarian groups in fact try to monopolize invitation of the sectarian groups mostly for their own political interests so we can argue if if this can be a system can be reformed with out of this problem or if the situation can be addressed without getting rid of the system perhaps cannot perhaps its too entrenched at this point you just have to do away with the. Radical lead but its not its not the the origin of the origin of our in fact hes toast or hes thanks so much for explaining all that theres so much to to talk about why ive lived half an hour hike of women in their project project director for iraq syria and lebanon at the International Crisis group were now going to bring in. A journalist and the founder of the report an online publication focusing on investigations i thank you for standing by all this time you to listen to mr haas on the arabs speech his announcement that the government has resigned what do you make of that what happens next. What happens next is the caretaker government and weve had many caretaker governments and lot of governments dont tend to last long in loveland because the countrys always politically unstable so we dont know how long this caretaker government will last some of them have lost the months. Its very hard to form a government in lebanon lets not forget that you have government was once in the making and its also could be as that and its a stable factor in the economy as well making things even worse right now theres no government but we could also be read as a victory for the protesters because the protesters d have been down there they have been steadfast they have been trying to breach the walls of the government and so this pressure d was to be seen as a victory for them the question is what will be proved placed by and when will he be replaced and what will he be able to do while he is a caretaker government well that youre going to be able to call for elections as everybody wants will they be able to negotiate with the i. M. F. And loan is desperate for a 10000000000. 00 loan from the i am not right now to rescue its venezuela like situation for the people of lebanon certainly if he was replaced by saad heidi that would be seen as a huge defeat for the protesters and i kind of almost doubt that could even happen in lebanon right now so i missed that is saad hariri was to come back and how would that be saying. That would be seen as an utter failure of the revolution and i think that would be reaching people in this country because that would be resetting. Back to before there was any and was as if there had not been no revolution for many of the protesters but again the protest movement i think also differed in their lot of different currents within it some of them might be supporters of the former Prime Minister and some of the might be supporters of the other politicians in the country so i think we have to really be careful not to underestimate the existing political structure of lebanon which again was fought and earned by war and blood and people have fought with these parties for their lives so we shouldnt think of it as a small thing or in significant thing these parties run schools and hospitals and provide jobs legal and so again its seen as a very corrupt system by a lot of people but others still benefit from it and just because we have you know dogs people the streets of those i mean there are millions more at home that might not agree so i think that we have to be careful hopefully this will lead to a political change hope we are seeing a catalyst in the country thats been needed to give to elections and to get it to protest movement organize it isnt going to mean anything is that it lacks as i said there are different currents within the book as more and more its really take control the country and have an organization yeah. Yeah i mean from the outside it does seems counterintuitive the idea that somebody who has stepped down from the position you know at the end of last year would then come back and as a result of what we have now but just explain for our International Audience what the balance of power is like and parliament the structure all that lebanons political system and why that makes it so hard to reach consensus to take action why the country is subprime to this political deadlock while the country of lebanon really never gets a chance to form and never has a chance of peace