BEIRUT, Dec 15, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Lebanese police clashed with anti-
government protesters in Beirut late Saturday, firing tear gas to prevent
them from breaching barricades near parliament, ahead of talks next week to
appoint a new premier.
Lebanon has been swept by unprecedented nationwide protests since October
17, demanding the complete overhaul of a political class deemed inept and
corrupt.
The government stepped down on October 29, but bitterly divided political
parties have subsequently failed to agree on a new premier, although talks
are now planned for Monday.
Saturday’s clashes erupted at the entrance to the street leading to
parliament, which was blocked by security forces.
Images broadcast by local TV channel LBC showed the anti-government
protesters trying to break through metal police barricades, and officers
firing tear gas and beating them.
The demonstrators overturned heavy flower pots and shouted slogans hostile
to the security forces and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, the footage
showed.
Clashes followed in Martyrs Square — the epicentre of protests since
October — and on a bridge in the city centre, according to an AFP
photographer.
Security forces fired rubber bullets, while protesters threw stones, the
photographer said.
Protesters were injured by batons while others passed out due to the
intensity of tear gas fumes, and members of the security forces were also
wounded, the photographer said.
The Lebanese Red Cross said on Twitter that it had taken 10 people to
hospital and provided care to 33 people on the ground.
It told AFP people had been treated for breathing difficulties and
fainting, along with injuries caused by stones, noting that security
personnel and civilians were among those treated.
Lebanese civil defence also said it took 10 people to hospital, but did not
specify whether the affected were civilians or members of the security
forces.
– Counter-protests-
Security services had already used force to disperse anti-government
protesters earlier this week.
The process of forming a government will take place as Lebanon faces an
economic crisis.
The protesters have demanded a government made up solely of experts not
affiliated to the country’s traditional political parties, but analysts have
warned this could be a tall order.
Earlier in the day, police in Beirut clashed with young people opposed to
the anti-government protest movement.
The afternoon clashes erupted when young counter-protesters from an area of
the capital dominated by the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah and fellow
Shiite movement Amal tried to raid a key anti-government protest camp in
Martyrs’ Square.
Anti-riot police intervened, firing teargas to disperse them.
The Lebanese protests have been largely peaceful but clashes have become
more frequent in recent weeks, with supporters of Hezbollah and Amal
attacking protest camps in several cities amid counter-demonstrations.
Both Amal and Hezbollah are partners in Lebanon’s cross-sectarian
government.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday warned that the formation of a
new government could take time.
Nasrallah said he would support a coalition government with “the widest
possible representation” that did not exclude any of the major parties,
adding that it could even be headed by outgoing premier Saad Hariri.
The names of various potential candidates have been circulated in recent
weeks, but the Sunni Muslim establishment on Sunday threw their support
behind Hariri returning.
The international community has urged a swift appointment of a cabinet to
implement key economic reforms and unlock international aid.
Nasrallah on Friday also urged his supporters — and those of Amal — to
stay calm, saying that the “anger” of some of his movement’s members had gone
“out of control”.