Protesters in Lebanon rejected sweeping economic reforms announced by the government on Monday, saying they would not go home until the entire cabinet resigned.

Large crowds gathered outside the Lebanese parliament building in the capital Beirut, as they have been for days, venting their anger at what they see as a corrupt political class pushing the economy to the brink of collapse.

Under pressure, Saad al-Hariri, the prime minister, drew up a package of reforms which included the halving of salaries of MPs, the overhaul of the dysfunctional electricity sector and a draft law that would see the return of money plundered from the state.

Mr Hariri tried to placate the protesters in a speech delivered on Monday afternoon, saying: “I’m not asking you to stop protesting or to express your anger. That is a decision that you take, and no one can give you a deadline.

“You are the ones who moved the cabinet, and your movement, to be honest, is what led to the decision that you see today.”

Protesters responded with chants of “thieves, thieves!” and “we’re not leaving the streets”, and called the reforms “proof” that the country’s leaders had for decades been “robbing them blind”.