Shooting rocks Beirut as tensions erupt
BEIRUT: Tensions over a probe into last year’s massive blast in Beirut burst into the worst street violence in more than a decade yesterday, with six Shi’ites shot dead and gun battles reviving memories of the country’s 197590 civil war.
Bullets bounced off buildings and people ran for cover during bursts of gunfire which lasted several hours on what was once a front line in the war. At one school, teachers instructed infant children to lie face down on the ground with their hands on their heads, a witness said.
The Iranbacked Hezbollah and its ally, the Shi’ite Amal Movement, accused the Lebanese Forces (LF), a Christian party that has close ties to Saudi Arabia, of attacking its supporters, who were gathering to demand the removal of the judge investigating last year’s port blast.
Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said snipers had opened fire and aimed at people’s heads.
The LF denied any involvement and condemned the violence, which it blamed on Hezbollah ‘‘incitement’’ against Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigator into the port blast, which killed 200 people, wounded thousands and devastated swathes of Beirut.
The army initially said gunfire had targeted protesters as they passed through the Teyouneh traffic circle dividing Christian and Shi’ite Muslim neighbourhoods. It later said there had been an ‘‘altercation and exchange of fire’’ as protesters were on their way to the demonstration.
President Michel Aoun vowed those responsible for the gunfire would be held accountable. — Reuters