At least five dead and several injured in Lebanon protests over Beirut blast
The Lebanese army deployed tanks on the streets of Beirut on Thursday after a protest over the 2020 port explosion spiralled into chaotic violence that left at least five people dead.
During a demonstration against the judge leading the inquiry into the blast, an unidentified sniper opened fire on crowds at the capital's Palace of Justice. The protest had been co-organised by the Shia militant groups Hizbollah and Amal.
Lebanese officials said five people were killed by gunfire, including a 24-year-old woman who was killed by a stray bullet in her home, adding that around 30 people were wounded.
Najib Mikati, the Lebanese prime minister, called for calm and urged Lebanese to avoid "civil strife," while the Lebanese Army threatened to shoot all armed persons on the streets.
The sudden outbreak of violence was a major escalation in the crisis-stricken state, which is already grappling with an economic meltdown along with power and fuel shortages.
Severe tensions over a probe into the catastrophic August 2020 port explosion have been growing, with the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hizbollah leading calls for the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar, accusing him of bias.
Hizbollah and Amal are suspected of mounting the protest in a bid to undermine the inquiry, which recently issued an arrest warrant for an Amal member and ex-minister who was allegedly aware of the neglected nitrate store which sparked the explosion.
The 2020 explosion, one of the worst non-nuclear blasts in history, killed more than 200 people and devastated swathes of Beirut.
Later on Thursday, a number of gunmen from Lebanese militant groups fired hundreds of bullets at buildings and into the air in central Beirut. Some militants also fired RPG launchers into the air, apparently at random.
Lebanon is already facing dire fuel and electricity shortages, the latter often leaving entire neighbourhoods without any power for days on end. Reports of food poisoning have also significantly increased as shops are unable to keep their goods refrigerated.
Thursday's sniper attack took place on the border between Christian and Shi'ite Muslim neighbourhoods of Beirut, and was a frontline in the Lebanese civil war, which began in Ain el-Remmaneh in 1975.
Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said the gunfire had targeted protesters as they headed to the palace, while images posted on social media showed dozens of children hiding in the hallway of a school near the area.
The army reported "bursts of gunfire in the area of Tayouneh - Badaro," a largely residential area of Beirut.
"The army rushed to cordon off the area and deploy in its neighbourhoods and their entrance. Patrols started as did the search for the shooters to detain them," it said in a statement.
As of Thursday evening the situation appeared to have calmed down, though there were sporadic reports of gunfire.
