Lebanon holds day of mourning after six die in fighting
SCHOOLS, banks and government offices across Lebanon have stayed closed after hours of gun battles between heavily armed militias killed six people and terrorised the residents of Beirut.
The government called for a day of mourning following the clashes, in which gunmen used automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades on the streets of the capital, echoing the nation’s darkest era of the 1975-90 civil war.
The gun battles raised the spectre of a return to sectarian violence in a country already struggling through one of the world’s worst economic crises of the past 150 years.
The violence broke out on Thursday at a protest organised by the two main Shiite parties Hezbollah and the Amal Movement - calling for the removal of Judge Bitar, who is investigating last year’s explosion at Beirut port.
Many of the protesters had been armed. It was not clear who fired the first shot but the confrontation quickly evolved into heavy exchanges of gunfire.
The two Shiite groups said their protesters came under fire from snipers deployed over rooftops, accusing the Christian right-wing
Lebanese Forces militia of starting the shooting. Among the dead - all Shiites - were two Hezbollah fighters.
On Friday, residents in the Tayouneh area of Beirut, where most of the fighting played out, swept glass from the streets in front of shops and apartment buildings.
Soldiers guarded the entrance to the battered neighbourhood and barbed wire was erected at street entrances. Many cars were damaged.
Tayouneh has a huge roundabout that separates Christian and Muslim neighbourhoods. Newly pockmarked buildings sat next to ones scarred from the days of the civil war.
Tensions over the port blast have contributed to Lebanon’s many troubles, including a currency collapse, hyperinflation, soaring poverty and an energy crisis leading to extended electricity blackouts.
None of Hezbollah’s officials have so far been charged in the 14-month investigation.
Judge Bitar is the second judge to lead the complicated investigation. His predecessor was removed following legal challenges.