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The Lebanese protest began almost four months ago. She called this Saturday January 18 to a new rally to denounce the economic mismanagement of the country. The procession converged on the Parliament where the situation degenerated. Clashes broke out with the police.
With our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh
At 7 p.m. this Saturday, clashes between protesters and the police had been going on for nearly four hours. The city center, with the air of a battlefield, was covered with a thick cloud of tear gas but also with smoke that emitted from fires lit in dumpsters.
In a surge of violence unrivaled for four months , these clashes have left, according to a provisional assessment of the Lebanese Red Cross, at least 160 wounded. Forty of them were reportedly transported to hospitals.
A peaceful rally has degenerated
Many police and riot gendarmes were also hit by large caliber fireworks used horizontally by demonstrators who also threw stones.
It all started outside the entrance to the Lebanese Parliament where the supposedly peaceful rally degenerated and quickly turned into a pitched battle with the police.
The police, but also the Lebanese army, have deployed significant resources and reinforcements are permanently sent to contain the situation after having succeeded in repelling the demonstrators by a few hundred meters.