they spoke in one voice it was multiethnic kerry and people from different religions stood together and they demand a change people from different areas came together to demand change but the momentum slowly it's slowed because at the beginning yes the corruption everyone wanted better living conditions they wanted jobs but when you start talking about the divisive issues in this country then it's very difficult to keep people united i'll just give you one example when people here call for early elections under a new electoral law most of these people will say ok what law are you talking about which law will levanon be divided into different districts over levanon be one single electoral district if you can see people are cheering now because they managed to push the security forces back so there's there's a sense of defiance so and electoral law that will work to the benefit of one

religious group for example will enable another religious group so it is very hard to bring people together and the political parties tend to use and exploit these sectarian differences they tend to use sectarianism to make people fear each other it's a question of dividing and rule and this is something the protest movement has failed to achieve to create a united leadership that will speak in one voice who have one vision on the way forward and that's why the protests slowly fizzled out but they're going to be there were also other reasons you had a militarized state as you see right now they used to arrest people. anyone who posts on social media a criticism of the president for example is called in for questioning so there was a lot of intimidation as well so and people were also tired a lot of fatigue and these people were attacked. by supporters of the ruling party

is not very far from here is a stronghold of the other of those in power and they used to. engage in clashes with the people here they used to attack their tents so they were up against a lot it was it was very it was a very very difficult battle for them and then corona virus pandemic spread in the country and of course people to stay at home. discussing these issues with as i'm just seeing the latest death toll figures they've now risen 21586000 people injured 21 people still reported missing but when we talk about the political situation there in the country we've had multiple m.p.'s resigning today what are they trying to achieve with that beyond signaling to the voters we want to be on what we consider to be the right side of history. well the opposition

has been accused of riding on the wave of popular anger ever since the protest movement began. 3 of the m.p.'s belong to the christian party they've been in the opposition for years their position is there should be early elections we can no longer be part of a state a corrupt state and we believe in the voice of the people we believe and the demands of the people some will say that they are trying to exploit the grievances try to change the balance of power in their favor because the we have to talk in religious terms because this is a country divided along religious lines christian parties christian communities divided into a number of parties and the the christian party that has the majority of seats is believed to have lost a lot of popularity in recent months so those in the opposition will be accused of trying to explore this called her early elections in order to tip the balance of

power in their favor so those in power will say that you want change wait for the next election change will only come through the ballot box the opposition believes that they can exploit 'd the grievances but people here will say. we don't want to replace the ruling class with the opposition we want both the ruling class and the opposition to leave they've been in power too long we want new faces we want people who have expertise people who will build a state it is 11 on is a weak states state institutions are controlled by political parties which we've mentioned you know and. this is why this country is passing through so so many crises economic financial banking a currency crisis a political crisis a social crisis and then you have the blast. and the blast was for for so so many people they'll tell you they bankrupted us they starved us and now they killed us

so the message they want to give today is we want justice we want to prevent whether they'll be able to do it that's a different story you can see it's very very difficult to breach the barricades it's very that the security forces are hundreds of men have been deployed around parliament building as well as government building we are in the center of beirut not very far from where we are peter is the port where the the site of that massive a massive blast on tuesday a lot of the buildings here were damaged and that explosion many people here know a friend or a family member who was either killed or or injured 120 people are still in critical condition and they're in hospitals and this country is the health care sector house that has practically collapsed hospitals have been appealing for international assistance for medical much needed medical supplies there has been

electricity outages because the electricity company is unable to provide 24 hour electricity so people feel they have no longer anything to lose so many people are unemployed so many of these people are are graduates university graduates and they haven't been able to find jobs here and many of them are looking to leave the country many fear that there's going to be a brain drain many warn that the country is becoming a failed state so for people here there's really nothing left to lose. zain thank you for that keep us posted stay close we'll come back to you in a few minutes let's bring in that she is one of 3 m.p.'s from the opposition christian party could tape he's resigned in the past few hours he joins us on skype from beirut cash why did you decide to quit. i believe

that i was elected to make a change. in trying to with my ear. problems. one of them. when we were trying to make this change against this corrupted regime that has proven its failure we've been trying and. it's a result of. corruption and. we need to be clear. black and white or. we. need to be more. 'd blended with this. fierce. revolution that has happened since the start of this.

but now. the structure of this destruction. as. so would work. for the good of the lebanese people the people of beirut for people who i assume you would like to vote for you at some future election are you making a flawed calculation here your calculation it seems to me is i will be voted for again and i will get back into political office our correspondent there just before you and i started this conversation making the point action that people people on the streets are saying to her we don't want any of the existing politicians that was a message mirrored this time yesterday when we were talking to a high profile member of the political set in your country pull your q.b.

and she was saying the same thing the people don't want the current government they don't want the opposition they want all of you gone. that's true and we've been right where we were and in the. few months ago we did present drop. them in that they are going to go you know i did start of the revolution there was a big bang. all the order. and yes we want this to happen and i think the other not need. a new political we need. we need to introduce new concepts new ideas new people we've been ruled by the same people. and. this cannot continue we are on the verge of either making it all free and then. new lover always or we will remain in this.

country that cannot. and i'm not sure sir if there would be any way and election i'm not sure if i would be running for the next election what i have done. in line with my country with my convictions and with my aspiration. and not at all it's not the time to concede anything to be honest we don't know to what will happen so i'm only making my decision based on the parents because they cannot see what's happening what's happened or what is lance ok i'm not challenging you on your political beliefs or your your delivery of your political beliefs but you are clearly not old enough to have been a lebanese and pain when the civil war ended in 1990 the people who you might ask

to vote for you however a lot of them were around in 1909 during the ninety's during the noughties during the time from 2010 up to where we are today the following decade and they have had 30 years. of broken promises they've had 30 years of pledges not being met so when any lebanese aspirant politician stands to be elected into office again why should anyone trust you to do what you've done because as a result of what happened on tuesday can i suggest to you that we are in different territory here in uncharted territory because you've got people like the french president emanuel macro ok i mean there are colonial reasons why it was him but he flew in to your capital city and he basically said here we know there's been systemic systematic corruption if he's talking about that globally because he's a globalist that's a very big hill for you to climb to get trust to get voted back into office and

then to deliver on what you are promising the people. today as i said we're not promising and joining the people. from today we've been in the streets in. october and maybe we were the only m.p. to be in the streets with those who did reject all politicians and we were not in the ninety's in power we've been exiled. in 2002000 times we had a minister who has been assassinated. and another campaign has been assassinated. and that we had different cabinets. with one. yes you are 100 percent right people the big problem is that we don't have trust in the police. we don't trust in the people and the political and this is what it does or

this is the reason why we. and international community. and people are coming and it has been very clear. the way and what has been. the level not. lebanon has been isolated since maybe a year at the close of this big issue we have to have a state within the state how the decision of war or peace is not in the hands of the central government. yes we we have we have. that. by. the people accept them anymore nor the international. i can tell you that this is why we need to go back to the future. to the people wait and they will vote or choose whatever

they want and they have refused this when we present that only 18 and. well it's for the drug flows that these are. the parliamentary band and yes we believe that the 1st there isn't any other. to give but the people. that say who they want and what they want. new love and ok since you were saying cash one final point you've chosen today to step away to step outside top tier of the political system in your country one of course respects that decision. if you could send a message to the government who are still in place how do they handle the situation immediately now going forward so the heat is taken out of the demonstrations and the protests on the ground people can get access to their money because their bank

accounts are in a very informal way we're being told their bank accounts are frozen how do you start rebuilding the city how do you then stage really free and fair elections. i agree with you it's complicated but there's only one way out the 1st step is to have this government resign the 2nd step is to form an independent cabinet and ministers who could do that. for new elections and this is within 6 months so that we regain trust and confidence and with the international power can people react to their own money and the violence we need. if we're nations we need. or or or. supported law and that. the only way to rise again is 14 and.

as long as we have a state within the state and as long as we. we are going into regional and national and out of place whereby we are so weak to be part. of this we would not be able to revive again we have only 5 we like all the countries we have 5 incomes of foreign money $1.00 is is the reason there is no longer a place to visit because of what's happening who we have and there is no confidence in the system in a corrupted system 3 we have the lebanese living abroad that usually transfer their money or their support system that they no longer have trust in the banking system for we have our exports and we've been so negligent and so in reviving i'm very conscious. and in the and 5 and most important and which is the most is the

international aid that though this international aid will not come specially before the the explosions that happen it will not come as long as we do not ready for this cabinet. and as long as. this country so it's as simple as that we have only one way forward which is there is a nation of this cabinet report. ok is there another starting point to that conversation and that conversation has got to start with you talking to people. you along with it would appear every other politician in beirut your popularity has gone through the floor over the past 4 days and would you today go down to martyr square right now after we finish this conversation and stand in front of the newly built hangman's noose that the

protesters have put up and say my name's elias hank i want to be a politician again let's talk about the issues because can i suggest to you that that conversation may go completely the wrong way today. there are there is there is. this tree and as i told you before before the explosion also we had that inclusion that didn't use to receive any politician however elegantly or both. movements in that field. today we just bury our general. who has been one of them are. due to this explosion yesterday we did betty another comrade who 727 years old and before yesterday were also buried so we have 3 victims and tomorrow is the 4th actually.

what i'm trying to tell you is that we we are. our people are in the streets our part is in our streets our streets and we should be calling and we among most of the civil society groups that called for this. money to station today we are part of it. we are in the few hours me being there is only normal today i will not go to the funeral without the definitely i will be with them there is no shame the only way to to change is outside of this establishment and this is why we did resign to join the people. understood and cash the formally an m.p. with the opposition christian party. thank you so much for coming on and giving so

much of your time on such a difficult difficult day for your country we do appreciate it. thank you. well let's just show you the latest live shots coming to us from beirut where you can see something left of this on fire with the security forces using tear gas to stop protesters and demonstrators getting into the parliament building there is a big protest going on around the martyr square area correspondent is telling us she reckons her estimate is this 2 and a half 3000 maybe just over 3000 people in that protest that's not the one we're showing you just now what we're showing you just now is near the parliament square building as. the atmosphere there perhaps less feed royall than it was 30 minutes ago or so well it's estimated the blast caused between $10.00 and $15000000000.00 worth of damage to the port and the wider area the port area on the other side of the main part of beirut was actually protected from some of the blast

in the aftershock that came through after that 2nd blast the really big blast that was protected by those big grain silo so all that energy was shelved to the other side into beirut proper let's take a moment now to get across the aftermath of the damage since the events of choose al-jazeera as bernard smith has been taking a look. it's not until you move away from the beirut shoulder line that you get a real question of the scale all the devastation just over my shoulder the orient queen that was capsized by force of the blast and every building you see along the skyline has been impacted there isn't a single pane of glass left over there and just on the other side is the remains of the grain silo and the grain silos. was most of the grain

supply for 11 on there is no strategic reserve and all around the grain silos the remains twisted remains of the country's main port warehouses everything in there food included other goats destroyed port traffic has been diverted further up the coast to tripoli the 2nd ball but it is having trouble managing with the capacity and managing with the demands of taking in extra supplies ammonium nitrate is believed to have caused the blast on tuesday in beirut it is the most common fertilizer used globally on the main component in explosives often used in mining but a lot needs to go wrong because such a big blast the blast we saw on tuesday that is because ammonium nitrate is not flammable on its own instead it acts as an oxidizer that increases it's burning decomposing or a stored for long periods of time in the wrong way it can become contaminated

making it an accelerant during intense heat could lead to an explosion the blast in lebannon may have started with a fire and one of the biggest known nuclear explosions ever recorded hey mr gordon is a chemical weapons expert he said to us a little earlier ammonium nitrate should never have been stored in this way. most countries around the world the very strict regulations on how you store and i trade and security we know that terrorist groups around the world uses as an explosive but is you know everybody's seem quite what a devastating explosive but it can be the regulations certainly in the u.k. and europe and the u.s. and i'm sure there are as well stipulate that you should not store it in any popular populated areas and downwind has that we refer to is the sort of danger area if there is an accident should be clear of buildings am people if you don't

store it correctly as you said it can come very unstable and when it's unstable and can explode innocent accent thermic reaction the you see here and also store in such large amounts is you know it is against all regulations that i know and in australia the princes who need special licenses even to buy or trade this stuff so this does seem to be something that's been building up and it should never happen it was absolutely a bomb waiting to go off. zeros correspondence in a hole is at the heart of what's going on in beirut for us this suzy you know we've had 90 minutes 2 hours of protests we've had 45 minutes of tear gas being used on the protesters do we have any comment from the government yet. the army the lebanese army has issued a statement a short while ago saying that. protesters should not to destroy or damage public

and private property and that should they should only peaceful there should only be peaceful demonstrations in many ways trying to justify what you are seeing behind us excessive amounts of tear gas has been used to try to push protesters away from the parliament building it seems that the security forces are hoping that the the square martyrs square the epicenter of the protest movement which began in october will be empty that they would at least this is what the people here feel that the telling us this this is what they want to they don't want people to gather they don't want the world to see us protesting against them but we are tired we are angry they didn't just to bankrupt the state they didn't just make us starve most of us don't have jobs but now they're killing us because of their incompetence because of the negligence they're all they are asking how can the authorities leave highly explosive material to 1700 tons of ammonium nitrate in

a warehouse for years and yet nobody did anything about it the president acknowledging that he knew of the presence of this explosive material and that he was informed on july the 21st not too long ago and he said that he gave orders to the concerned parties to get rid of the ammonium nitrate and he said that this is not my responsibility so old politicians are blaming each other saying that they are not to blame. for this disaster but the president himself saying that he was aware of this highly explosive material so people here feel that they there are of no worth to those in power that those in power do not care about their their livelihoods about their safety about about their future so it's not just about demanding a new leadership and toppling those who will tolerate people here it's about justice it's about taking it to holding these people account to account you saw

earlier we showed you how they construct that gallows in a sign that they want to execute politicians that is how angry people are but we've seen scenes like this before they last for a few hours and then security forces used excessive excessive amounts of tear gas and then rubber bullets in order to disperse the crowd so it's not clear what this protest will achieve change will not come easy especially those in power have been in power for decades and they control all of the state's organs. as far as these pictures that we're looking at zena do they represent a big headache. insofar as we're not seeing pictures of people cleaning up the streets we're not seeing pictures of the aid operation getting up and running we're

not seeing pictures of the survivors going back home they don't have homes to go back to anyway what we're seeing beamed live around the world is people protesting people demonstrating put things on fire and the authorities using tear gas and now there's talk of statements from the army. yes but on it it's exactly what you said these are the scenes the world is watching just a few days after a disaster that killed dozens of people are still. missing as search operation operations continue these people here are betting on the support of the international community some of them are holding plot cards saying do not give them money do not they're not legitimate they are not credible authorities do not give them a lifeline the international community has been swift in their response to help lebanon sending supplies aid rescue teams but the international community has been very

careful not to funnel the money and the aid through the government they're giving up directly to the people people are chanting no. people want the fall of the regime there's a regime on the political and sectarian. establishment chance that we've been hearing for months now so a lot of people here are betting on the support of the international community and hoping that the international community will not give those in power a lifeline because those in power in many many ways they may show their strength by using excessive amounts of tear gas and deploying security forces hundreds of security forces in the streets but those in power are isolated they've been isolated for some time now. when when the new government was when it took office in january in the midst of the uprising they claimed that they were a technocratic independent government but they were. appointed by the political parties and they've been answering to the political parties ever since that

government lebanon's traditional allies in the west in the arab world they didn't welcome the new government so they didn't come to visit the prime minister in fact the 1st one of the 1st book for visits from a western nation was the french foreign minister a few weeks ago and he came to live in our not to say we will help bail you out from your act from this economic crisis he came to tell the politicians he scolded them and told them we will not help you if you don't help yourself if you don't reform if you don't fight corruption if you don't try tax evasion and they did mention beirut ports they want to reform the international community has been demanding reforms that they report because the port generates so much money for the state the treasury it will help deal with the country's debt and yet money is being taken by corrupt officials so those in power are refusing to reform because when you reform they lose their hold over the state they become weak but right now their

greatest fear is that the crisis as a result of the humanitarian crisis that resulted from the blast is international is being internationalized ok when more and more countries from abroad intervene they become weaker ok you're talking to a senior we're carrying on listening to your voice but we've slipped away to a feed of pictures that we've got coming from those gallows square that you were talking to us a little earlier in the boat the next 90 seconds or so when you talk about the money we've just had a conversation with elias hank cash formerly an m.p. for the opposition christian party and he was saying to us look we've got 5 sources of money one of them is the i.m.f. in that regard the existing government politicians put themselves in a political candidate $22.00. because they won't get any aid money big pots of money until they get the country back on the right track but they need the money to

get the country back on the right track where do they go with this very briefly please they know we're running out of time. well talks with the international monetary fund have been on hold for some time now the government is not presenting a united voice the banking sector or the government not even presenting the same figures to the i.m.f. 2 the i.m.f. is telling them if you don't reform then you're not getting any money and everywhere the international community made it clear the i.m.f. is your only way to get international aid so we must leave it there many thanks for your question coverage the of those still developing events in beirut we will keep you across all the main developments of clothes of course here on al-jazeera to stay with us but keep you posted about and.

we understand the difference is similarities of cultures across the ground 0 matter how you take a. current affairs. down to 0. hi i'm steve clements and i have a question about america's elections what would lincoln do let's get to the bottom line. u.s. president donald trump set off alarm bells in america last week when he talked about delaying the upcoming election after the coronavirus pandemic public health officials recommended that people avoid long lines at polling stations and mail their ballots and instead the trumpet is juggernaut media machine has been relentless in discounting the credibility of mail in ballots climaxing in a tweet last week where he floated the idea of actually delaying election day which is set for november 3rd that i.