Lebanon Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Monday announced the resignation of his government as protests and international outrage over the twin explosions that ripped through capital Beirut last week mounted, AFP reported.
Meanwhile, the toll from the blasts rose to 220, BBC reported, citing Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud. Nearly 6,000 people were injured and over 100 people are still missing.
Earlier in the day, Lebanon’s Justice Minister Marie Claude Najem stepped down from her post, becoming the third cabinet minister to resign after fierce backlash over the explosion. Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad and Environment Minister Damianos Kattar had also resigned amid calls for the entire Cabinet to step down.
On Thursday, protestors came out on the streets in Beirut in huge numbers. They clashed with security personnel and accused the government of negligence.
Lebanon’s health system, already struggling with the coronavirus crisis, has been overwhelmed by casualties and injuries in the explosion. Several countries have offered help to the country.
Two powerful explosions had torn through Beirut on August 4. The explosions occurred at a warehouse at the Beirut port, where a huge amount of ammonium nitrate was being stored. The compound is commonly used as an industrial chemical and also as an explosive in mining. The Lebanese prime minister had said that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had exploded at the port.
The explosions came a day ahead of a long-awaited court verdict in the trial connected with the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. Because of the blasts, a tribunal of the United Nations has pushed the verdict to August 18 now.
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