It is now up to President Michel Aoun and Parliament to settle on a new prime minister, never an easy process given Lebanon’s political divisions.

If the protesters have their way, the next government would exclude the political elite they blame for Lebanon’s corruption and mismanagement.

In the meantime, however, Mr. Hariri and other politicians whom the protesters have targeted will continue to serve in a caretaker government. Without the ability to pass major legislation, it will be even less equipped than before to resolve the fiscal crisis that is threatening to devalue the currency, capsize the banking system and shred ordinary wallets.

Mr. Hariri’s resignation “is only the first step,” said Lina Sabra, 65, who returned to the protests for the 13th day in a row on Tuesday. “There’s a lot of work to be done. Now we’re expecting more than for them to listen to us. We expect that we will start taking part in the decision-making. They controlled us for the last 30 years, and it’s been disastrous on every level.”

Within a few days of the first protests, Mr. Hariri tried breaking the impasse with a package of fiscal reforms meant to head off economic catastrophe by reducing Lebanon’s debt — measures economists say could help, but will not fix Lebanon’s underlying economic instability. It was seen by the protesters as little more than confirmation that the politicians had the means, but not the will, to clean up their act all along.