Thousands of Lebanese have today staged a protest against their government, a political leadership which they have held responsible for the recent Beirut explosion that claimed more than 150 lives and disfigured the capital, Beirut.

French President Emmanuel Macron, had two days later visited the people of Beirut as part of his diplomatic mission to organise international support for the disaster-hit country ahead of a Sunday aid conference.

Even four days later, Beirut still woke up to the sound of broken glass being swept on the streets with its inhabitants still taking stock after one of the biggest blasts of its kind in recent history.

Recall that the explosion was caused by a fire at Beirut port on Tuesday which ignited a stock of ammonium nitrate and triggered an explosion that was felt in neighbouring countries and destroyed the entire neighbourhoods of the city.

According to the health ministry, more than 60 people are still missing. Perhaps today might be the last day anybody buried under rubble has any chance of being found alive.

An impressive number of persons who showed solidarity for the victims of the blast, from inside and outside Lebanon believe that the disaster was man-made with the residents calling on the government to bring the culprits to book as they said,  ‘Punish them.’

In a bid to express their grief, some of the protesters erected a mock gallows for Lebanon’s top politicians on Martyr’s Square, the epicentre of a protest movement that briefly rattled the country’s hereditary ruling class. In the words of one of the protesters, Hayat Nazer, “Today is the first demonstration since the explosion, an explosion in which any one of us could have died.”  She added that“ this is the biggest warning for everyone now that we don’t have anything to lose anymore. Everyone should be in the streets today.”

However, the president and prime minister of Lebanon have promised that through government investigation, the culprits will be brought to book as many Lebanese see the blast as a direct result of their leaders’ corruption and negligence. Also, some of Lebanon’s leaders are considering the outpouring of international solidarity as an opportunity to break the government’s diplomatic isolation.