On the last day of Hariri's deadline, calls for a continuation of the strike and the government is considering the reform paper

Demonstrators in downtown Beirut called for a general strike on Monday, blocking roads and presence in squares, despite government approval of a reform paper Prime Minister Saad Hariri is to present to ministers hours before the 72-hour deadline expires.

The Anatolia news agency reported that news spread on the websites that companies and institutions are pressuring their employees to stop them from going on strike and coming to work.

For his part, called the General Labor Union in Lebanon to continue the general strike and participate in sit-ins throughout the country until the overthrow of what he described as corrupt power.

Protests have continued since Thursday in various cities and regions of Lebanon to demand the removal of all symbols of the political class from power, and the adoption of measures to combat corruption and return of looted funds to the state treasury.

In the capital Beirut, especially in the vicinity of the Government Palace in Riad Solh Square, in addition to Martyrs' Square, demonstrators gather with Lebanese flags and chanting slogans demanding the fall of the government and the departure of all symbols of the regime.

Protests continued in the public squares of the northern cities such as Tripoli, Byblos and Akkar, in the east such as Beblak, and south in Sidon.

Sunday's rallies are the largest in the crowd since the start of the move as a holiday, and come ahead of the expiry of a deadline set by Prime Minister Saad Hariri to the parties to his government to agree on an economic paper he had prepared in the last two days.

Demonstrators created slogans for each political leader, most of them containing obscene words, and some even turned them into music pieces circulated on social media. No political leader was excluded.

In support of the protest movement in their country of origin, hundreds of Lebanese living there gathered in the French capital Paris. The demonstrators said that they came out in solidarity with their citizens in Lebanon, and chanted slogans confirming their intention to continue the protest until their demands are met, and raised slogans calling for change and fighting corruption of all kinds, and the establishment of a civil state.

Government alert
Hours before the prime minister's deadline, Hariri is scheduled to discuss with his cabinet today the economic paper on which he reached an agreement in a mini-meeting yesterday with ministers representing Amal, Hezbollah, the Marada Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement.

Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted private sources in Beirut that the paper includes a large financial contribution from banks, including the imposition of taxes on them and insurance companies, the abolition of government councils, and reduce investment expenses, in addition to activating the tax obligation, and prevent smuggling through legal crossings and the closure of illegal crossings.

Hariri 's economic paper also included proposals to solve the electricity crisis, approve the looted money recovery law and the law to protect corruption detectors, and reduce the salaries of current ministers and MPs by 40 to 60 percent.

For his part, Progressive Socialist Party Chairman Walid Jumblatt said his party rejects the paper that Hariri will present, but he said his bloc ministers will attend the cabinet session and present the party's paper, which includes proposals to promote the economy and hold the corrupt to account.

Jumblatt said in an interview with Al Jazeera that he is against the resignation of the Hariri government because this may create a vacuum and chaos, but said that some ministers must be resigned, led by Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil.

He said that Hezbollah must understand the demands of the street and understand that the street does not differentiate between the political current and another, adding that the party must also stop its support for Minister Basil, who he considered a symbol of government tyranny.

For his part, said the head of the Lebanese Forces Party Samir Geagea that the failure to resign the government is a big mistake, and called in an interview to form a government technocrats.

Geagea had announced last night the resignation of his party ministers from the government because of what he considered its inability to take steps to save the national economy.