Aoun Says Lebanon to Have 'Clean Government'

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday announced that Lebanon will have a “clean government,” a day after Saad Hariri bowed to unprecedented anti-graft street protests and submitted his government’s resignation.

“Lebanon will have a clean government and the protests that happened have opened the door to major reform,” Aoun told a delegation from the Maronite League during a meeting in Baabda.

“Should obstacles arise in our way, the people will return anew to the squares,” he warned.

The president had earlier on Wednesday acknowledged Hariri's resignation as prime minister but asked his government to continue on a caretaker basis until a new cabinet is formed.

The resignation of the government has eased a two-week-old nationwide lockdown but protesters have vowed they would keep pushing for deeper change.

Euphoric protesters experiencing a rare moment of national unity have pilloried politicians of all parties, calling for better public services, an end to rampant corruption and a complete overhaul of sectarian-based politics.

When a somber Hariri appeared on television Tuesday to announce his resignation, crowds erupted into celebrations across the country but warned that the government's fall was only one of their demands.