Protesters are returning to some of Lebanon's main streets and squares for the third day in a row, despite the violent crackdown by security and military forces at night and dozens of arrests after riots.
Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that the demonstrators re-cut the main road between the Lebanese capital Beirut and the northern governorate.
The correspondent added that a limited number of towns in Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa are witnessing gatherings of dozens of activists, while about a hundred people protested in front of the Serail in Beirut.
In the morning, the Lebanese army reopened some international roads, while young people were collecting tires, obstacles and dust in Beirut and other areas in preparation for blocking the main roads.
Downtown Beirut looked like a war zone, plumes of smoke billowing amid the splashing of glass, garbage containers and the remains of burning tires on the streets.
A massive demonstration in which thousands of people took part in the night ended in riots by angry youths who broke down shop windows, two bank interfaces, parking meters, traffic lights and cars.
The demonstrations included a stampede between the demonstrators and the security forces that dispersed them by force by firing water cannons and dozens of tear gas, causing fainting and panic.
The Internal Security Forces announced that they had arrested "seventy people during their acts of sabotage, arson and theft in downtown Beirut."
Several cities, most notably Tripoli in the north and Nabatiyeh in the south, have seen a rally of demonstrators since the early hours of Friday. "Our struggle is eternal with this sectarian system," one of the demonstrators in Nabatiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold, told a local television channel. "For 30 years we have suffered from the ruling political class."
"They are trying to portray us as demagogues, but we are demanding our rights."
Activists on social media circulated overnight videos showing gunmen forcibly opening a road in the southern city of Tire, which protesters said belonged to the Amal movement, which is headed by parliament speaker Nabih Berri and has influence in the region.
The protests began on Thursday night, hours after the government imposed a 20-cent fee for intelligence on cellular applications, including WhatsApp, but quickly reversed its decision on the impact of the protests.
This has not prevented thousands of demonstrators in Beirut and other areas, major strongholds of powerful political and party forces, demanding the resignation of the government, in an inclusive movement that did not exclude a party, sect or leader.
Street curse has been mounting in recent weeks over a possible deterioration in the value of the local currency, which has depreciated on the black market against the dollar, and the government is pushing for new taxes amid signs of an imminent economic collapse.
In an attempt to remedy the crisis, Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Friday night gave his "partners" in the government, referring to Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement, 72 hours, "to provide a clear answer (...) that there is a decision for everyone to reform and stop waste and corruption." .
The head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Minister Gibran Bassil, warned Hariri by rejecting the resignation of the government, saying that this could lead to a situation "much worse than the present."
The demonstrations highlighted the political divide and divergence of views between the components of the government on the mechanism of allocating quotas and how to reduce the deficit on the one hand, and the file of the relationship with neighboring Syria on the other.