A picture of Mr Hariri had appeared this week on the front of a popular daily newspaper below the headline “The Hostage”.

Next to him was a photograph of the man they alleged to be his captor: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Since Mr Hariri’s surprise resignation last Saturday in a statement broadcast from a Saudi state-owned TV station in Riyadh he has not returned home, leaving the Lebanese asking: Where is our prime minister?

“We are all angry”, said Fadi Abdullah, a shop owner in west Beirut, summing up the mood of the nation. “Everyone may not agree with Hariri’s politics, but he is our prime minister.