Rioting in Lebanon’s capital leaves 150 injured

BEIRUT — Police fired volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets in Lebanon’s capital Saturday to disperse thousands of protesters amid some of the worst rioting since demonstrations against the country’s ruling elite erupted three months ago. More than 150 people were injured.

Thick white smoke covered the downtown area as police and protesters engaged in confrontations that saw groups of young men hurl stones and firecrackers at police who responded with water cannons and tear gas. Some protesters vomited from inhaling the gas.

The violence began after some protesters started throwing stones at police deployed near the parliament building. Others removed street signs, metal barriers and tree branches, tossing them at security forces.

The clashes took place amid a rapidly worsening financial crisis and an impasse over the formation of a new government after the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned in late October.

Lebanon has witnessed months of protests against the political elites who have ruled the country since the end of the 1975-90 civil war. The protesters blame politicians for widespread corruption and mismanagement in a country that has one of the most onerous debt burdens in the world.

The protesters had called for a demonstration Saturday with the theme “We will not pay the price,” in reference to debt of about $87 billion, or more than 150% of the country’s GDP.

As rioting took place in central Beirut, thousands of other protesters arrived later from three parts of the city to join the demonstration. They were dispersed and chased by police into nearby Martyrs’ Square, which has been a center for protests.

Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces called on all peaceful protesters to “immediately leave the area of riots for their own safety.” It added that some policemen who were taken to hospitals were attacked by protesters inside the medical centers.

As clashes continued, some two dozen men believed to be parliament guards attacked the protesters’ tents in Martyrs’ Square, setting them on fire. A gas cylinder inside one tent blew up. The fire charred a nearby shop.

The bells of St. George Cathedral began to toll in an apparent call for calm, while loudspeakers at the adjacent blue-domed Muhammad Al Amin mosque called for night prayers.

Later in the evening, hundreds of protesters chanting “revolution” chased a contingent of riot police near the entrance of the mosque, forcing them to withdraw. Inside the mosque, several men were treated for gas inhalation and some families were said to be hiding.

“We call on the security forces to be merciful with women and children inside the mosque,” a statement blared through the mosque’s loudspeakers.

President Michel Aoun called on security forces to protect peaceful protesters, work on restoring calm and guard public and private property. He asked the ministers of defense and interior and heads of security agencies to act.

“The confrontations, fires and acts of sabotage in central Beirut are crazy, suspicious and rejected. They threaten civil peace and warn of grave consequences,” tweeted Hariri, the caretaker prime minister, who lives nearby. He called those behind the riots “outlaws” and urged police and armed forces to protect Beirut.

The Lebanese Red Cross said it took 65 people to hospitals and treated 100 others on the spot, calling on people to donate blood. As the clashes continued, more ambulances were seen rushing to the area.

Late Saturday most of the protesters were forced out of the area by police firing tear gas and sometimes rubber bullets. Still, security remained tight as more reinforcements arrived.

Panic and anger have gripped the public as their local currency, pegged to the dollar for more than two decades, plummeted. The Lebanese pound lost more than 60% of its value in recent weeks on the black market.

Adding to the crisis, Lebanon has been without a government since Hariri resigned Oct. 29, meeting a key demand of the protesters.

Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab was to announce an 18-member Cabinet on Friday, but last-minute disputes among political factions scuttled his latest attempt.