One hundred people were injured Saturday in violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement broke out on Saturday January 18 in Beirut, where the unprecedented popular protest movement entered its fourth month. These are among the most violent clashes since the protest began on October 17 in a country in the midst of a political and economic crisis.
According to the Lebanese Red Cross, 100 people were injured during the clashes, 40 of whom were transported to hospitals in the city.
In front of one of the main entrances to the Parliament, in the heart of the capital Beirut, protesters attacked members of the riot police, stationed behind barricades and barbed wire. The demonstrators, some with masked faces, launched various projectiles such as stones, sign posts and tree branches. Some attempted to cross the barbed wire.
Riot police dispersed the crowd using water cannons before resorting to tear gas.
A demonstration was initially planned near the Parliament, to which several steps, converging from different points in the capital and its surroundings, were to converge. But the situation degenerated before the arrival of the groups.
On both sides of the artery leading to the entrance to the Parliament, panes of advertising panels were broken, according to an AFP photographer, who reported cases of fainting among the crowd under the effect of tear gas shots.
“JI’m here because after 90 days on the street, they keep fighting for the shares [du gâteau] in government regardlessOf the people, lamented Maya, a 23-year-old protester. “Popular anger is now the solution“, She hammered.
In a press release on Twitter, the internal security forces (ISF) deplored “violent” acts calling on “peaceful protesters to stay away from the site […] for their own safety“.
The protest movement, which led to the resignation of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri at the end of October, castigates a political class accused of corruption and incompetence, and demands a government made up of technocrats and figures independent of the traditional parties.
Tuesday and Wednesday, the capital had already been the scene of nocturnal violence marked by acts of vandalism against several banks and clashes between demonstrators and police.
Popular anger has been exacerbated by the rapid deterioration of the socio-economic situation in recent weeks and the draconian restrictions on withdrawals by banks, accused of complicity with the government.
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