Violent, anti-Hezbollah groups demonstrated in Place des canons and then
seized and sacked the Foreign Ministry. Important and sensitive
documents were burnt. Papers were also destroyed at the Environment and
Economy ministries. A member of the security service is killed. Prime
Minister Hassan Diab calls for early parliamentary elections, echoed by
the Maronite patriarch who also wants an international inquiry
.
Security forces fired tear gas and clashed with stone-throwing
demonstrators Saturday in Beirut, and a group of protesters stormed the
Foreign Ministry amid mounting fury over this week's explosion that
devastated much of the city and killed nearly 160 people. Dozens were
still missing and nearly 6,000 people injured.
Activists who called for the protest set up symbolic nooses at
Beirut's Martyrs' Square to hang politicians whose corruption and
negligence they blame for Tuesday's blast.
The disaster has taken popular anger to a new level in a country already reeling from an unprecedented economic and financial crisis and near bankruptcy
"Resignation or hang," read a banner
held by protesters, who also planned to hold a symbolic funeral for the
dead. Some nooses were also set up along the bridges outside the port .
No comments:
Post a Comment