When Lebanon’s new premier-designate Mustapha Adib went for a surprise stroll through Beirut’s disaster zone Monday, he shook hands, chatted with baffled passers-by, then earned hostile shouts of “revolution”.

In a country traumatised by the massive August 4 explosion and worn down by political turmoil and economic pain, the brief encounter between the new leader and the people signalled the difficulties ahead for Adib.