For many Beirut residents, Thursday's street violence was aimed at pressuring the government to stop investigating some influential people for their alleged negligence in last year's Beirut port explosion
On October 14, around 10:30 AM, as guns roared in Beirut, the city's residents couldn't help but recall the bad days of the "civil war" which ripped the country apart between 1975 and 1990. The memories of the war were evoked as a demonstration led by the supporters of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement quickly turned violent. Their armed members opened fire in apparent retaliation against a Christian militia, which they accused of firing the first shot.
While Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, two Shia Islamist parties with full-fledged armed wings, together have 29 seats in the parliament, their rival the Lebanese Forces Party, a Christian group and former militia during the civil war, have 15 seats in the parliament., has 29 seats. FPM stayed away from Thursday's clashes, which President Aoun strongly condemned.
The four accused flexed their muscle in an attempt to browbeat Al Bitar. They filed counter lawsuits against the judge and their main aim was to discourage him from prosecuting them for their alleged negligence in the port explosion case. Previously, two of the accused, Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeaiter, had succeeded in having Al Bitar's predecessor Fadi Sawan removed from the case.
Supporters of a Shiite group allied with Hezbollah help an injured comrade during armed clashes that erupted during a protest in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. On the morning of October 14, the Lebanese people woke up to a "security alert", with "Hezbollah'' and "Amal Movement" mobilizing their supporters to participate in a demonstration calling for the removal of Judge Al-Bitar.
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