Last Thursday, the Lebanese telecommunications minster announced proposals to tax internet-enabled voice calls, resulting in demonstrations calling for the entire government to be replaced. Hundreds of people have flooded the streets of Beirut and cities across Lebanon, voicing their anger a the government corruption and the lack of basic services such as electricity available 24/7.
The protests are based on the pent up frustration and anger at the politicians, endorsed by Hezbollah, who have enriched themselves over the last decades, leaving the vast majority of the country facing daily power cuts, water shortages and a lack of adequate healthcare.
One of the key slogans has been: "All of them means all of them." No one is blameless; all are guilty of pushing the country to the brink. The chants you hear on the streets range from rhymes cursing specific government ministers to a simple call for "revolution".
Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's reform package, which he announced on Monday afternoon, was supposed to appease the protesters' concerns. He pledged to cut the salaries of current and former political officials, abolish state institutions - including the Information Ministry - and impose no new taxes in the 2020 budget.
Judging from the thousands on the streets in Beirut all the way to his stronghold in the northern city of Tripoli, it hasn't made much of a difference.
Yet even those in Lebanon who follow political developments closely admit they are unsure about how the coming days will play-out.
The Lebanese live life as if there is no tomorrow: In Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city, a DJ played to large crowds in the city centre. Protestors joined hands in the middle of the Martyr’s Square to dance to Dabke, and some couples even celebrated their weddings among the crowd.
As thousands took to the streets of Beirut last weekend to demand a repeal to the tax hikes, the commotion was a bit too much for one young bystander, 15-month-old Robin Jabbour, who was with his mother when a crowd of protesters approached her car.
“I have a baby, don’t be too loud,” his mother pleaded with the group of several dozen protesters, but realizing a little boy was in the car, the men instead erupted into song, clapping and chanting the words to the well-known children’s song, Baby Shark.
CNN and other mainstream media channels fail to mention that the protests were a result of corrupt politicians involved for decades (from before the Civil War), till today, and cave into blaming a "rapidly declining economy" and the "influx of Syrian refugees".
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