Lebanese anti-government protesters who have been demanding radical reform reacted with anger Friday to the reported designation of Mohammed Safadi as a new prime minister whom they regard as emblematic of a failed political system. According to senior officials speaking on condition of anonymity and Lebanese press reports, key political players agreed that Safadi should be tasked with forming the next government. Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned on October 29, nearly two weeks into the unprecedented nationwide protests against ruling politicians who are blamed for rampant corruption and steering Lebanon into its worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. President Michel Aoun has said he will support the formation of a cabinet including technocrats but he has not yet announced binding consultations over a new line-up and there was no official confirmation that Safadi had been designated. Demonstrators in his hometown of Tripoli in northern Lebanon wasted no time in rejecting Safadi. They gathered near one of his properties to protest against a reported nomination they regard as a provocation. "Choosing Mohammed Safadi for prime minister proves that the politicians who rule us are in a deep coma, as if they were on another planet," said Jamal Badawi, 60. Another protester said that as a business tycoon and former minister, Safadi was an embodiment of the kind of political class the protest movement wants to remove. "Hes an integral part of this leaderships fabric," said Samer Anous, a university professor. "Safadi does not meet the aspirations of the popular uprising in Lebanon." Second city Tripoli has been one of the main hubs of the month-old protest movement, with nightly rallies in its main squares. A protest was planned in the afternoon at Zaytunay Bay, a luxury marina in central Beirut which is run by a company Safadi chairs. The consensus on Safadi emerged in a meeting late on Thursday between Hariri and representatives of Hezbollah and its ally Amal movement. A source familiar with the meeting said Hariri had expressed no objections to Safadis nomination. The source said that MPs from Hariris al-Mustaqbal movement would nominate Safadi in a formal process expected to begin soon. The next government will face huge challenges. It must win international financial support seen as critical to alleviating the economic crisis, while addressing the challenge posed by a nationwide protest movement that wants to see the old elite gone from power. Lebanons long-brewing economic crisis, rooted in years of state waste, corruption and mismanagement, has deepened since the protests began. Banks have imposed controls on transfers abroad and US dollar withdrawals.