The face-to-face meeting between police and anti-government demonstrators left more than 160 injured on Saturday (January 18th) in Beirut, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
"More than 65 people were transported to hospitals (...) while more than 100 others were treated on the spot," a spokesman for the Red Cross told AFP, adding that the injured were protesters and members of the police.
The violence began outside one of the main entrances to the Parliament, in the heart of Beirut, when protesters attacked members of the riot police, stationed behind barricades and barbed wire.
Protesters, some with masked faces, launched various projectiles, including stones, sign posts and tree branches. Some tried to cross the barbed wire.
Riot police dispersed the crowd using water cannons before resorting to tear gas.
"Popular anger is now the solution"
The clashes continued in the early evening. Entrenched in the streets around the Parliament, the demonstrators threw stones and fireworks at the police.
Unidentified people set fire to the tents erected by protesters since the movement began near Place des Martyrs, in downtown Beirut.
A demonstration was initially planned for Saturday near the Parliament, which was to converge on several marches leaving from different points in the capital. However, the situation deteriorated before the arrival of the protest groups.
Popular anger has been exacerbated by the rapid deterioration of the socio-economic situation in recent weeks and the inability of the authorities to form a government, more than two months after the resignation of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
"I am here because after 90 days in the street, they continue to fight for the shares (of the cake) in the government without caring" of the people, deplored Maya, a 23 year old protester. "Popular anger is now the solution," she said.
In recent days, protesters have targeted banks, accused of complicity with the government, attacking several branches in the Hamra district of the capital.
Lebanon is collapsing in debt of around 90 billion dollars (81 billion euros), more than 150% of its GDP, and the World Bank warned in November that the poverty rate could reach 50% of the population, against a third at present.
In addition, the national currency lost its value on the parallel market -2,500 pounds for one dollar against an official rate of 1.507 pounds / dollar.
With AFP
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