Lebanese protest in Beirut after clashes with police

Thousands of Lebanese demonstrated again on Sunday December 15 in central Beirut. Many members of the security forces were deployed in the aftermath of violent clashes between the anti-power protesters and the police.

Waving Lebanese flags, the demonstrators, mobilized since October 17 against a political class accused of corruption and incompetence, chanted slogans hostile to the resigning Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

On the eve of parliamentary consultations to appoint a new head of government, the protesters, who demand a cabinet made up of technocrats and independents, refuse a possible reappointment to his post of Saad Hariri. The former Prime Minister had to resign on October 29 under pressure from the street.

Weygand Street in #Beyrouth Sunday evening #Lebanon 🇱🇧 pic.twitter.com/6JniKgZHTa

"We are peaceful"

"We will not accept Hariri as head of the next government because he has contributed to corruption and the 'system' that governs the country," Carla, a 23-year-old protester, told AFP. "We will not stop until we can uproot the whole 'system'," she said.

Come to demonstrate against "the political class which has not heard us for 60 days". Nour, a pharmacist, said that yesterday's clashes were "shameful because we are peaceful".

Dozens of people were injured in Beirut on Saturday evening, security forces using tear gas and rubber bullets.

In the aftermath of the violence, French diplomacy chief Jean-Yves Le Drian called on France Inter radio "the Lebanese political authorities" to "shake up", saying that the country was "in a dramatic situation".

Protesters clubbed by men in civilian clothes

The clashes erupted as protesters attempted to cross a police roadblock blocking the entrance to an avenue leading to Parliament. Then the violence continued elsewhere in the city center, where the protesters found themselves enveloped in the thick smoke of tear gas.

An AFP photographer then saw men in civilian clothes bludgeoning demonstrators. Riot police fired rubber bullets and protesters threw stones, the source said.

Lebanese civil defense announced on Twitter that it "transported 36 wounded to hospitals", while 54 civilians were treated on the spot.

The Lebanese Red Cross has transported 15 wounded to hospitals and treated 37 people on the spot, according to a report communicated to AFP. The injured were civilians but also members of the security forces.

The Internal Security Forces spoke on Twitter on Sunday of 20 wounded in their ranks transported to hospitals, others having been treated on the spot.

People "infiltrated" to "instrumentalize" the rallies

This violence is the most significant since the beginning of the mobilization, which generally took place in calm. But clashes have recently increased and the security forces have used force several times.

Interior Minister Raya el-Hassan on Sunday demanded that the Internal Security Forces open a "swift and transparent" investigation to determine responsibility for the violence.

She evoked the presence of people "infiltrated" and alerted the demonstrators on "parties" who would try "to instrumentalize" the rallies to provoke a "confrontation" with the police.

With AFP

Newsletter Don't miss anything from international news

subscribe