• Decline: explosions in Beirut: a tragedy that plunges Lebanon into ruin

Little by little, the pain gives way to anger . As rescue teams rush through the last hours to save the last survivors from the rubble, brigades of volunteers clean up the ashes and the country overcomes the death and destruction wrought in Beirut by the explosion of a ship full of nitrate. ammonia, anger grows.

For many citizens, the Beirut tragedy is the latest flash of a corrupt and negligent political elite. Outbreaks of protest occurred yesterday in the streets of the wounded city. The calls to overthrow the political system that emerged with force in October have now been renewed and a large demonstration is already called for this Saturday afternoon in the Plaza de los Mártires , the epicenter of months of protests. In the networks, many angrily point at politicians with the hashtag "hang them".

On Thursday night, groups of people tried to bypass the police checkpoints that cordon off the Lebanese Parliament , some armed with stones. The police fired tear gas.

Very harsh images of the explosion site in Beirut.

The few parliamentarians who these days have dared to visit those affected were dispatched with boos. In another show of anger, protesters attacked former Prime Minister Saad Hariri's convoy on Thursday and clashed with his bodyguards in central Beirut. Only the Druze MP Marwan Hamade, who has been minister several times and survived an attack in 2004, has had the decency to resign on Thursday to show his outrage at the catastrophe.

Abandonment

The political class is today more than ever the target of the fury of the population that has seen how this catastrophe comes to hit them when they were already battered. The economic crisis has made the local currency lose 80% of its value, wiped out the savings of a lifetime of the middle class, caused massive layoffs, caused food shortages and left almost half of the population on the edge of poverty. The explosions are the last straw: more than 300,000 people have been made homeless, half of Beirut - with its companies, businesses, shops, restaurants and hotels - has been destroyed or damaged, hunger lurks after the destruction of 80% of the Wheat reserves and damages are estimated at 15 billion.

"The majority feeling is not sadness or anger or despair, it is abandonment. We have already lost all hope in the selfish, comatose and, now, criminals who rule us against our will," writes Bassam Osman , a doctor at the University Hospital American from Beirut in a Twitter account of 52 hours of non-stop work to assist those affected by the explosions.

Scope of the explosion in the port of Beirut.

Abandonment because the State seems to have disappeared in the midst of the catastrophe. Brigades of volunteers clear the streets of debris, glass and brush. It is the neighbors themselves who distribute food and water and take in their own homes those who have lost theirs. Solidarity comes from anywhere in the country . "The government is incapable of helping the people so we have come to stand alongside the Beirutis," says one of those volunteers from the north of the country.

"All of us - activists and experts - are wondering how extensive the new wave of popular rage will be, how far will the demonstrations push to force the government to resign and put the politicians responsible for this mismanagement that has led to this disaster to give up. Most likely, these explosions will provoke more anger and the country will return to mass mobilizations. But we still do not know. I have heard the leaders of the protests say: 'Today we mourn the dead, tomorrow we will bring down the responsible '", comments Heiko Wimmen , Project Director for Lebanon at the International Crisis Group think tank, to EL MUNDO.es.

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Know more

  • Beirut
  • Lebanon

InternationalExplosions in Beirut: a tragedy that plunges Lebanon into ruin

Middle EastLebanese President Michel Aoun points to the possibility that "a missile or a bomb" caused the Beirut explosions

Explosions in BeirutFrench President Emmanuel Macron visits Beirut: "Aid is the priority today but Lebanon needs reform or it will continue to sink"

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