Lebanon: overflows in Beirut during an anti-system demonstration

Text by: RFI Follow

Several hundred demonstrators met on Saturday June 6 in the center of Beirut, for what was to be a resumption of popular protest. It has wilted since the winter, and containment had ended the rallies. But yesterday's day was very political. Besides slogans against all the leaders, others appeared for the first time, targeting the weapons of Hezbollah, bone of contention.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Beirut, Laure Stéphan

 Saturday's rally is the first since authorities began to ease the containment imposed in mid-March to stem the spread of the new coronavirus.

The crowd is dispersed and disparate in the center of Beirut: activists from the start, supporters of political parties, groups of young people led by "leaders". These heterogeneous groups advance a plethora of economic and social grievances, and demanding for some of the anticipated legislative.

Ghadi is one of those who have come down since October. "We have come to demand our rights, we want to build a state," he says. We want the government to fall, and early elections with a new electoral law. In thirty years, this political class has not built the state we dream of. It is true, the government is new, but it has not responded to our requests. "

50 injured

But the demonstration quickly turned into confrontation: young people opposed to Hezbollah ran to measure themselves against the sympathizers of the Shiite movement, who deployed near the rally place. The army intervenes massively.

Jamal Cheikh is furious with these tensions: “  There are infiltrators in our ranks, who want to ruin our revolution. We will not accept it, we paid with our blood for this revolution. We don't want people to create faith issues. The divisive subjects, like the weapons of Hezbollah, must be settled later around a table, not in the street, this is not the time.  The issue of Hezbollah's weapons is one of the main issues of contention among the political class. The group is the only faction not to have abandoned its military arsenal at the end of the civil war (1975-1990).

New crowd movement, new confrontation, this time between demonstrators throwing stones, and the police, who launched tear gas. It's chaos.

In the evening, shots echo in the capital; several officials, Sunnis and Shiites, called for calm. The demonstration was punctuated by incidents, which left nearly 50 injured.

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• Lebanon
• Hezbollah

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