Lebanese beg Macron for help toppling elite ‘who played hot potato with a megabomb’
ANGRY crowds mobbed Emmanuel Macron in Beirut yesterday, demanding his help in overthrowing Lebanon’s reviled leaders, as outrage grew over the devastating explosion caused by dangerous chemicals stored in the city for years despite repeated warnings.
The French president said that without structural reform, Lebanon, already facing economic collapse, would “continue to sink”.
Mr Macron toured a heavily damaged neighbourhood as the death toll from the port blast, which damaged half of the Lebanese capital, rose to 145 with more than 5,000 injured.
He was met by a crowd chanting slogans used in nationwide protests last year – “Revolution” and “The people want to bring down the regime”.
Surrounded by traumatised people pleading for help, Mr Macron pushed past bodyguards to hug a woman, something no Lebanese leader has done since the disaster on Tuesday.
He told the crowds he would ask Lebanon’s leaders to accept “a new political deal” and “to change the system, to stop the division of Lebanon, to fight against corruption”.
He said he was not there to endorse the “regime” and vowed French aid would not fall into “corrupt hands”.
As foreign governments consider aid for Lebanon – including the UK which has pledged £5million – some Lebanese are demanding it not be channelled through their own government, which they blame not just for the disaster but for decades of corruption and mismanagement.
A British military team was expected to arrive in Beirut yesterday to help coordinate the response but Lebanese government is reported to have turned down a search and rescue team, saying it had sufficient capacity already.
Since the blast, Beirut’s streets have been filled with civilian volunteers sweeping up rubble and broken glass but precious few government workers.
“Why do we have more Palestinian civil defence workers helping us out than the government?” one man asked. “We have more Syrian refugees help- ing us than the government,” he added.
“Not a single dime should go to this government,” said Fady, whose home was destroyed. “All they’re good for is to beg for money from foreign governments so they can steal it and splurge it on their castles and fancy weddings.
“The international community is partially responsible because they’ve supported these same warlords for the past 20 years because they didn’t want to see the country return to civil war.”
No Lebanese leader has resigned over the disaster, even as officials admitted that despite warnings from port authorities, an estimated 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate had been left in a warehouse in the port since it was seized in 2014. Last night security forces fired tear gas at protesters attempting to storm parliament.
Michel Aoun, the president, has promised accountability, while Hassan Diab, the prime minister, has vowed: “Those responsible will pay the price.”
But sceptical Lebanese are demanding heads roll now, with the Arabic hashtag “Prepare the nooses” trending.
Meanwhile, leaders have begun deflecting. “It’s not my job to know,” Michel Najjar, the public works minister, told Al Jazeera when asked about dangerous materials stored at the port.
Claiming his ministry had warned of the danger, he added: “The judiciary didn’t do anything.”
Amid the blame-shifting, Mr Diab is leading an inquiry but few have faith in the government to investigate itself. Amnesty International has called for a mechanism to be set up “free from potential domestic political interference”.
“The Lebanese state and judiciary has an abysmal record when it comes to investigating incidents like these… they’re the criminals themselves,” said Anthony Elghossain, a Lebanese-american lawyer. “For 30 years people have been telling themselves it can’t get much worse but look at it now … they played hot potato with a megabomb.”
Yesterday Igor Grechushkin, a Russian businessman who owns the cargo ship from which the chemicals were seized, was questioned by police in Cyprus on Interpol’s request but he was not detained, Cypriot police said.