Protesters near U.S. embassy in Beirut sprayed with water cannon, teargas
BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanese security forces used teargas and water cannon to repel scores of protesters demonstrating on Wednesday near the U.S. embassy in Beirut against what they said was Israel's attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians.
The United States has been targeted for criticism across the region for pledging ironclad support for Israel in its war in Gaza after Palestinian Islamist group Hamas carried out a deadly cross-border attack into Israel on Oct. 7.
Demonstrators, who blame Israel for Tuesday's blast at the Gaza hospital although Israeli officials say it was a misfired rocket from a Palestinian group, were prevented from reaching the embassy's boundary by barricades blocking roads hundreds of metres (yards) from the mission in a north Beirut suburb.
Some protesters waved Palestinian flags while others hurled stones at the security forces, who pushed them back with water cannon and volleys of teargas. Television footage from the scene showed flames licking up from a building near the barricades.
The U.S. embassy said it was aware of protests in the vicinity of the embassy but said the mission was not damaged.
"Unfortunately, violent protesters damaged private property in the surrounding neighbourhood of the embassy, but embassy personnel and facilities remain secure and undamaged," said U.S. embassy spokesperson Jake Nelson.
Elsewhere in Beirut, thousands of protesters gathered in south Beirut at a demonstration called by Iran-backed Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel in 2006. Hezbollah officials denounced Israel and the United States for the hospital blast.
(Writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Mark Heinrich, Alexandra Hudson)
