The 2019–2020 Lebanese protests, also known locally as the October Revolution (Arabic: ثورة 17 تشرين الأول‎, romanized: thawrat 17 tishrīn al-ʾawwal, lit. '17 October revolution'), were a series of civil protests in Lebanon. These national protests were triggered by planned taxes on gasoline, tobacco, and VoIP calls on applications such as WhatsApp, but quickly expanding into a country-wide condemnation of sectarian rule, stagnant economy, unemployment that reached 46% in 2018, endemic corruption in the public sector, legislation that was perceived to shield the ruling class from accountability (such as banking secrecy) and failures of the government to provide basic services such as electricity, water, and sanitation.