Lebanon: night of violence in Tripoli

Text by: RFI Follow

In Lebanon, a protester, wounded by a gunshot Monday evening, died while dozens of people, including around fifty soldiers, were injured in violence that shook the city of Tripoli and other regions of the country.

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From our correspondent in Beirut, Paul Khalifeh

In the aftermath of the nocturnal violence between protesters and the Lebanese army in the city of Tripoli, in the north of Lebanon, calm has returned but the inhabitants are still in shock.

Some streets look like a battlefield. Broken shop windows, burned out bank branches, still smoking dumpsters. In other districts, life has timidly resumed its course under the watchful eye of Lebanese soldiers deployed en masse.

The night was hot. A protest rally against the vertiginous rise in prices, and the inexorable fall in the value of the Lebanese pound against the dollar, degenerated into a pitched battle. Groups of angry youths attacked and torched at least two army vehicles, which sometimes used live ammunition. Smaller clashes have occurred in other parts of Lebanon

Social and political tensions

The economic and financial crisis that has hit Lebanon since the fall has turned into a social crisis due to the erosion of purchasing power and the uncontrollable surge in prices.

Monday night's outbreak of violence coincides with unprecedented anti-corruption measures taken by the executive, and a formal attack on the government launched by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri , Druze leader Walid Joumblatt , and chief Christian Samir Geagea.

Violent clashes between the Lebanese army and demonstrators in Tripoli. #Lebanon #LebanonProtests pic.twitter.com/SGE2JxDkEW

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• Lebanon
• Society
• Saad Hariri