HUNDREDS of Lebanese protesters set up camps and blocked traffic in the capital Beirut yesterday, keeping up pressure on the government to resign. 

Some protesters waved banners telling motorists: “You have put up with the state, bear with us for a couple of days.”

Only ambulances and army vehicles were allowed through during the latest wave of action, which is part of a nationwide civil disobedience campaign. 

Protesters also briefly closed the highway linking the southern city of Sidon to Beirut, burning tyres and blocking traffic. The army later removed the obstructions and reopened the road.

Violence broke out in Beirut when baton-carrying counter-protesters from the Shi’ite Hezbollah movement attacked the protesters. 

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is among those whose resignation is being demanded by demonstrators.

His supporters, all men dressed wearing black T-shirts, shouted: “We heed your call, Nasrallah.”

Riot police separated the groups, but the Hezbollah men continued to throw stones and started attacking journalists. At least two protesters were injured. 

Mr Nasrallah, considered one of the country’s most influential figures, has rejected all the protesters’ demands. 

The government has promised to amend proposals for new taxes and public spending cuts, but protesters say they will not back down until all “corrupt” government officials have gone. 

Protester Mohammad Mazloum said: “We will accept nothing less than the resignation of the government, the president, dissolving the parliament and holding early parliamentarian elections.”

Lebanon is facing a deepening economic crisis and is one of the world’s most indebted nations, with public debt exceeding 150 per cent of gross domestic product.

Protesters are accusing those who have ruled the country since the end of the 1975-90 civil war of amassing wealth while ordinary people struggle.