BEIRUT - Thousands of Lebanese took to the streets Sunday, as an unprecedented protest movement against the ruling elite entered its second month with the country in the grip of political and economic turmoil.

The leaderless pan-sectarian movement has swept the Mediterranean country since October 17, prompting the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri's government.

Demonstrators are demanding a complete overhaul of the political class and for a new government of technocrats not affiliated with traditional parties.

Protesters have decried everything from unemployment to chronic power cuts and say they are fed up with the same families dominating government institutions since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

No date has been set for parliamentary consultations required to pave the way for a new cabinet line-up and the country has been paralyzed by school and bank closures.

On Sunday, thousands of Lebanese flooded main squares in Beirut, second city Tripoli in the north and the southern port city of Sidon as well as other parts of the country.

They dedicated their rallies to the "martyrs" of the "revolution" -- two men who lost their lives in the protests.

"Life has been bitter for years and today the people are in the street to achieve their demands," protester Kassem Kassem said in Beirut.

In Tripoli, demonstrator Khaled Sabbagh, 26, said those in power tried, "but failed to circumvent the demands of the popular uprising".

"We must prevent any plan aimed at dividing us and we must push our demands and not give up, no matter how much pressure is applied until the people emerge victorious," he said, while warning of "new challenges".

Hours earlier, independent candidate Melhem Khalaf was elected head of the Bar Association, beating a rival backed by political parties, in what some Lebanese hailed as a victory for the protest movement.

"A thousand congratulations to the revolutionaries," filmmaker Lucien Bourjeily said in a tweet.

Lawyers who helped elect Khalaf erupted into cheers, chanting "Revolution! Revolution!"

Khalaf said he hoped his election would pave the way for independents to be selected for government jobs.

"The Bar Association will be a bulwark of public freedoms and human rights and a guarantor of the edification of a just state," he said. -AFP