Lebanon Information Minister resigns amid protests against Beirut ammonium blast

Beirut : Lebanon's information minister Manal Abdel Samad on Sunday resigned from her post after protests against a deadly port blast that killed more than 150 people and destroyed swathes of the capital.

"After the enormous Beirut catastrophe, I announce my resignation from government," she said in a statement carried by local media, apologising to the Lebanese public for failing them.

The protesters in the country demanded resignation of the whole government, several rallies against the government and street clashes have been reported in the country. 

Maronite patriarch Beshara Rai joined the chorus of people pressing Prime Minister Hassan Diab's cabinet to step down over a blast he said could be "described as a crime against humanity."

"It is not enough for a lawmaker to resign here or a minister to resign there," Rai said in a Sunday sermon.

"It is necessary, out of sensitivity to the feelings of the Lebanese and the immense responsibility required, for the entire government to resign, because it is incapable of moving the country forward."

He also joined world leaders, international organisations and the angry Lebanese public by pressing for an international probe into an explosion authorities say was triggered by a fire in a port warehouse, where a huge shipment of hazardous ammonium nitrate had languished for years.

Meanwhile, President Michel Aoun has rejected the claims for international investigation in the matter, claiming that the motive behind such demands is to dilute the truth.

At least six lawmakers have quit since the explosion.