The Lebanese army said - on its website today, Monday - that the Intelligence Directorate has completed investigations into the violent incidents that took place in Beirut, and referred the file of the arrested to the Military Public Prosecution.
Seven supporters of the Lebanese Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, were killed on 14 October, when they were shot, in the worst violence in Beirut in about 10 years.
The National News Agency in Lebanon and local media reported that the government commissioner to the military court, Judge Fadi Akiki, had charged 68 people in the Tayouneh events, including 18 detainees.
On 10/25/2021, the Intelligence Directorate completed its investigations into the events of Tayouneh, and referred the file with the detainees to the Military Public Prosecution. #Lebanese_Army #LebaneseArmyhttps://t.co/rXfzeSmmAZ
— The Lebanese Army (@LebarmyOfficial) October 25, 2021
The defendants in the file face - according to the same source - several accusations, most notably inciting sectarian and sectarian strife, murder and incitement to fighting, possession and use of unlicensed military weapons, and sabotage of public and private property.
Akiki requested interrogating the detainees and issuing the necessary warrants against them (without mentioning their political affiliation), according to the same source.
On October 14, armed confrontations erupted on Tayouneh Street between the areas of Chiyah (majority Shiites) and Ain al-Rummaneh - Badaro (majority Christians), killing 7 people and wounding 32 others.
The events began with heavy gunfire during a demonstration organized by supporters of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, to denounce the decisions of Judge Tariq Bitar, the judicial investigator in the Beirut port explosion case.
After the bloody events that lasted 5 hours, officials in Hezbollah and the Amal Movement accused the Lebanese Forces of carrying out an armed ambush against the demonstrators supporting the two groups, which the latter denied.