Dozens of protesters clashed with security forces in Downtown Beirut Thursday night after trying to break through security barriers blocking access to Parliament.
Protesters hurled stones and other objects toward Parliament and set fire to buildings near the An-Nahar building. They were met with tear gas from riot police, who forced the group back towards Martyrs’ Square.
Local channel LBCI reported that Parliament Police also threw stones back at protesters in the area, with the exchanges continuing past midnight.
Some demonstrators fled the area on scooters while others remained nearby for the tear gas to clear. Several blocked roads and set fire to material taken from among the rubble of the buildings damaged by the massive blast at Beirut Port Tuesday that decimated large parts of the capital.
Protesters had sparked a blaze, vandalised stores and lobbed stones at security forces, according to the state-run National News Agency.
Police responded with tear gas to disperse the small, but clearly furious crowd, wounding some demonstrators, NNA said.
The blast - the biggest to rock the capital in decades - killed at least 145 people and injured over 5,000 more.
Earlier Thursday the Military Court's Government Commissioner Judge Fadi Akiki ordered the detention of 16 people as part of the authorities' investigation into the explosion - a move that did little to quell mounting popular anger at the apparent lack of accountability for the incident
This article has been adapted from its original source.
