BEIRUT – The air over Beirut was thick again on Saturday, and the Lebanese people were shocked. This time with smoke and tear gas as a mourning nation engaged in a violent battle with security forces, as they demanded the downfall of a director they blamed for Tuesday’s devastating explosion.
‘First they left for the Lebanese people. Then she stole from the Lebanese people. Then they ignored the Lebanese people. Then she killed the Lebanese people. And finally today they went to war against the Lebanese people, ‘said protester, Maher Khani, standing close to the gallows and sounds that hung cardboard cuts from the political elite.
“The Lebanese people are ready for it. They left us nothing. ”
Decades of corruption and financial technology that have led to severe inequality drove Lebanese back into the hundreds of thousands in October. Life has declined exponentially since then. The people are dealing with economic collapse, a pandemic and the third largest non-nuclear explosion in the world, which killed nearly 160 people.
Several thousand Protestants marched Saturday through the devastated areas of the city, with punches piled up on both sides. The movement by youth was supported by parents, children, women and men.
All night long the protesters managed to storm and occupy four government ministries.
By the time the security forces forced all Protestants to the streets in the early hours of Sunday morning, more than 700 had been injured, according to figures from the Lebanese Red Cross and the Islamic Emergency and Relief Corps.
The Internal Security Force (ISF), the Lebanese National Police and Security Force, said in a statement that one of its members died in the protests on Saturday, while 70 were injured.
“The government did not help us to clean up, so we did it ourselves. Now we have come to protest to get them out. They blew us up and did not even send anyone to clean it up, “said activist Rawan Hijazi.
Busy brushes with noises hung around them as they came to the road leading to the Parliament building, they were torn by gas safety.
Soon there were violent clashes and peaceful, yet lively, protests took place at the same time.
Many who survived the explosion have seen their homes and livelihoods destroyed: up to 300,000 were homeless and countless businesses are in ruins, in a country where so many are already struggling to make ends meet.
The combination of sadness and anger has turned into a burning white rage.
“You have literally blown us up, we have nothing more to lose,” shouted a group of Protestants as they shot with the security forces to the front of the battle while tear gas canisters were fired directly at them.
Protesters crawled and fell over the rubble of the explosion as they escaped gas leaflets, many protected by the hard hats they had worn to clean up the streets and houses of people for the past four days.
“We will continue to fight until the end,” a wounded protester shouted after being treated by the Red Cross.
A researcher for Human Rights Watch reported seeing tear gas is shot directly at the heads of the people, rubber bullets fired at the upper body and the army struck unarmed unarmed protesters and the media.
After gaining new powers from the declared state of emergency, an NBC News journalist saw witnesses in army uniform beat the protesters, journalists and human rights workers all night.
Live ammunition was fired into the air at the parliament dispersing young, unarmed and terrified Protestants – it was unclear whether the army as the ISF fired the shooter.
In response to a request for comment, the Lebanese army said in a statement: “While units of the army were carrying out police operations and during the protests that took place in the Beirut area, the soldiers were stoned, large fireworks, and Molotov. cocktails, resulting in 105 injuries, including 8 officers, two of whom were seriously injured. “
The statement, which did not address expected violence against Protestants, said four people had been arrested for entering government buildings.
The Protestants soon regrouped and re-entered the protests from another angle. Those who really felt they had nothing to lose stood their ground in resilience and remained in collision with the security forces.
“They have started a war,” several protesters told NBC News in response to the violent collapse of the protest government.
“There are people with greenhouse gases who live in daylight on TV after they detonated an ammonium nitrate bomb and buried the city alive. Help us make them feel before they kill us all, ”tweeted Carmen Geha, a U.S. University of Beirut professor at the start of the demonstration.
The festive and overwhelmingly peaceful protests of Lebanon’s ‘October Revolution’ have disappeared and dark times seem to lie ahead as Protestants continue their efforts to liberate the country from its government.
“Find out when we’ll be hanging out,” read posters surrounding the demonstration.
