The situation calmed down in the center of Beirut after several rounds of clashes between police forces and demonstrators. According to a TASS correspondent from the scene, groups of activists are now concentrated on the Place des Martyrs near a small tent city, where humanitarian aid is distributed during the day to residents who were injured after the explosion on August 4 in the seaport. They are blocked on both sides by columns of well-equipped special forces and army patrols.
"There were few casualties on Sunday, only two people were taken to the hospital on our flank at the Mohammed al-Amin mosque, and the rest were treated on the spot," says a student named Yara.
"We do not hide that we are waiting for the resignation of the government, where on Sunday three Ministers (Information, Economy, and Environmental Protection resigned), a demonstrator Adnan said. "I think it will happen very soon: it is better for them [the Ministers] to leave on their own, otherwise the deputies will pass a vote of no confidence in them on Thursday."
Power vacuum
Meanwhile, the Lebanese University lecturer, Hussein Hammoud, believes that the resignation of the technocrat Cabinet will create a power vacuum in Lebanon for a long period. "In a situation where the affected people urgently need help, and the economy is experiencing a collapse, the country needs a government, because it may take a long time to create a new Cabinet, as it has done many times in Lebanon," he said.
One of the prominent opposition leaders, the Chairman of the Lebanese forces party, Samir Geagea, believes that "the Cabinet of technocrats is already a page turned in history." "We are now trying to convince most of the lawmakers to remove their parliamentary powers in order to achieve early elections," he said. Geagea insists on the need for an independent international investigation into the explosion at the seaport of Beirut, which led to a national tragedy.
A powerful explosion at a warehouse in the port of Beirut occurred on August 4. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and damaged by the blast, and more than 300,000 people were left homeless. More than 150 people were killed, about 6 thousand were injured, and dozens are missing. According to the Lebanese Interior Ministry, the cause of the tragedy was a fire that occurred during welding operations near 2.7 thousand tons of ammonium nitrate, confiscated by customs six years ago. The authorities of the Republic rejected the idea of involving international experts in the investigation, referring to the fact that they do not doubt the competence of the Lebanese investigative and judicial authorities.
Street battles continued in the center of Beirut for two days. On Saturday, the clashes were violent, and at the end of the day, as the civil defense service reported, 490 people were injured, including about 70 police officers. The army press service reported that 105 soldiers, including eight officers, were injured in the suppression of riots in Beirut.
Opposition-backed protesters are demanding the resignation of the technocrat government led by Hassan Diab, early elections and an international investigation into the August 4 explosion in the Beirut seaport.
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Photo: Maxim Grigoriev / TASS slider