Not only are people taking to the streets in huge numbers, but now business, banking, and industrial leaders will be totally shutting down on the Monday vote of confidence in the government.

BEIRUT, Feb 23 (AFP) – Leaders of Lebanon’s banking, industrial and commercial sectors said they would shut down next Monday to demand the country’s pro-Syrian government resign and that a “neutral” one replace it.

The strike would coincide with an expected vote of confidence in parliament, two weeks after the murder of former premier Rafiq Hariri in a bomb blast for which the opposition has pinned blame on the government and its Syrian backers.

“The economic authorities call for the formation of a new and neutral government which has the people’s support, and the trust of the international community and Arab countries,” the private sector said in a statement carried by the official news agency ANI.

The statement called for a “total shutout in memory of Rafiq Hariri”, the father of Lebanon’s post-warreconstruction, on February 28, and backed calls for an international investigation of his assassination.

It was signed by Lebanon’s association of banks and industrialists as well as the chambers of commerce and industry.

If Ukraine is an indicator of the power of the upper-middle and middle classes to support the democratic revolution, then Monday will likely be the day that the revolt really begins to unfold.