"The people want the regime to resign"

Demonstrations in Lebanon are now in its second week. At Beirut's Martyrs Square, new flags, tents and scenes with speaker systems have emerged every day.

The banks - which remained open during the country's fifteen-year civil war - have never been closed for so long.

Today, the country's president Michel Aoun spoke for the first time since the protests began. He said that anyone who stole the country's tax money should be punished, and talked about the importance of tougher laws against the widespread corruption in the country.

But the message that the protesters demand that the country's government resign did not come.

At Beirut's martyr square, protesters followed the televised speech. As soon as it was over, the cry that marked the protests over the square once again sounded.

The slogan "Killon, ya'ani killon" "All, then all" is aimed at all the country's top politicians, whose departure is demanding.

Lebanon has seen mass protests in the past. But the unity seen in the demonstrations is something new. Protesters from all the country's religious minorities are taking part in the protests.

In a country where the political system is divided along religious lines and Christians, Druze, Sunni and Shia Muslims have a certain number of reserved seats in Parliament, many of the politicians have been sitting on their posts since the end of the civil war almost 30 years ago.

A tax on whatsapp talks and the government's poor handling of large forest fires became the trigger for the protests that took off last Thursday, but they quickly expanded to include unemployment and general corruption in the country.

The corruption means, among other things, that electricity and water supplies that the Lebanese pay a lot of money for do not work. A quarter of Lebanon's population lives in poverty and the deep economic crisis causes the pressure on the Lebanese currency to rise.

Over the past 24 hours, more soldiers have been seen on the streets than before during the protests. Yesterday, the tone of the Lebanese army was sharpened against the protests in several places. In the middle of Wednesday, militants dispersed protesters both north and south of Beirut - forcing them to open highways that were blocked.

The army also tried to stop several TV channels from filming the operation - a clear change after it was said in recent days that the army refrained from using force. Enraged protesters formed the chain and the TV stations continued to broadcast.

The images of crying militants who obviously did not want to act against civilian protesters went viral. And more people poured in.

The government of Lebanon is based on a balance between the largest religious groups. The President is a Christian, the Prime Minister of Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of Parliament, a Shiite Muslim.

But the protesters have demanded that the incumbent government resign and a technocrat government be appointed to solve the country's urgent problems.

The President's speech was not received with enthusiasm. "The protests will continue and they will be stronger," says Rania Masry, who has been at Martyr Square every day since the protesters began.