Wednesday 4th August 2021
Donor conference pledges aid
Riot on the anniversary of the Beirut explosion
Last summer, an explosion in the port of Beirut devastated entire districts. On the anniversary of the disaster, violent protests against the government broke out in the metropolis. Meanwhile, the battered country can hope for aid in the millions.
On the anniversary of the Beirut explosion, dozens of people were injured in clashes between protesters and police in the Lebanese capital. According to the police, demonstrators tried to storm the parliament in Beirut.
Some started fires and threw stones at security guards who used water cannons and tear gas to attack the crowd. The protesters demanded that those responsible for the disaster be held accountable.
Lebanese television showed a tank rolling into the area. The police called on “peaceful” protesters to leave the area. In the face of “repeated attacks”, the emergency services would use “proportionate means” against “unpeaceful demonstrators”, warned the police. The Red Cross said it had taken eight injured people to hospital and cared for dozens of other injured people on the spot.
A few hundred meters from the riots, thousands of people gathered at the port for a memorial service for the 214 people who died in the explosion. Relatives and survivors carried flags and portraits of the dead. On August 4, 2020, hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate were detonated in a warehouse in the port of Beirut. The explosion razed entire districts of the Lebanese capital to the ground.
Donor conference pledges $ 370 million
Meanwhile, the participating states of the international donors conference for Lebanon have pledged around 370 million dollars, about 312 million euros, in aid funds. The organizers announced that the money should benefit the population. The participants again called for “the formation of a government dedicated to saving the country”. They also expressed concern about the delays in investigations into those responsible for the explosion a year ago.
The disaster worsened the economic crisis in the country. Since the resignation of the government as a result of the disaster, Lebanon has been without a viable political leadership. In view of the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, the donor conference is already the third in three years on the initiative of the former mandate power France.
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