Protestations against political authorities in Lebanon

Shafaq News / The governor of Beirut, Marwan Abboud, was dismissed by angry Lebanese activists, while he was inspecting the work of removing rubble in the Mar Michael, Beirut.

Abboud had sent two letters to the Beirut Police Command, in which he urged to take measures in order to reduce the cars’ and people’s mobility within the affected area for safety reasons.

In addition, the Lebanese Security Forces fired tear gas at protestors trying to breach into the parliament, to demand punishment for those responsible for the Beirut Port explosion.

The protestation was called "Judgment Day" in which people participated in a symbolic funeral for the victims, and to demand the resignation of all members political authority.

Hundreds of protesters participated in a demonstration, in Martyrs’ Square (Sahat Al-Shuhada ) in the city center, to criticize the government position towards explosion in Beirut in its history.

In addition, the demonstrators hold the politicians responsible for the authority’s negligence of the issue of storing about 2,700 tons of highly flammable ammonium nitrate.

Meanwhile, human rights organizations and bodies urged the Lebanese authorities to respect the right to protest, and not to use excessive violence against demonstrators demanding their legitimate rights.

In its first reaction, the Lebanese Army Command expressed sympathy with Lebanese people, saying it understands the difficult situation that Lebanon is encountering.

The Army Command said in a statement that it "reminds the protesters of the necessity to adhere to peaceful manners, and that the army lost martyrs in the explosion".

However, Lebanese judicial authorities are investigating the incident, which the government said it was caused by the storage of a huge amount of ammonium nitrate in the Beirut port for 6 years.

It is noteworthy that the explosion killed at least 154 people (among them 46 Syrian and the wife of the Dutch ambassador), more than 5000 wounded (120 of them are in critical condition), and 60 people are still missing.

While, Beirut explosion caused the displacement of about 300,000 residents of the capital, whose homes were destroyed or severely damaged, including 100,000 children, according UNICEF.