Lebanon's prime minister resigns amid protests

(Image credit: Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)

last updated 29 October 2019

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri is out, but don't expect that to slow down the country's anti-government protesters.

Protests broke out in Lebanon about two weeks ago, with participants calling for a complete reinvention of the country's political class. Hariri said Tuesday he and his cabinet were stepping down because he was "at a dead end" and "no one's bigger than the nation." Hariri recently came under fire after revelations that years before he became prime minister he gave more than $16 million to a woman with whom he was in a romantic relationship. The news didn't sit well among Lebanon's citizenry which is mired in an economic crisis that has prevented Beirut from providing 24-hour electricity, tap water, and garbage disposal to everyone, The New York Times reports.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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