6 people have been killed and dozens more wounded after a protest in Lebanon was fired upon by rooftop snipers.
The protest was being led by Hezbollah and was directed against the appointment of a judge to oversee an enquiry into the Beirut port explosion that killed over 200 people last year.
Witnesses describe seeing militia men using automatic weapons, handguns and rocket propelled grenades to attack the protestors with the violence continuing for a number of hours. It is not yet known who carried out the attack, but fingers are already being pointed at right-wing Christian militias, in particular the Lebanese Forces (LF) party. The LF hold 64 seats in Lebanon's parliament and were an armed group during the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war in which they murdered thousands of individuals.
Other witnesses report Hezbollah militia members returning fire against the attackers.
There are fears that the killings could spark another civil war in the country between the nation's various political and religious groups. As many as 150,000 people were killed in the 15-year civil war.
Lebanon is at present undergoing the worst economic downturn experienced by a country in 150 years, with a huge shortage of basic supplies, power-cuts and hyperinflation. This economic downturn has been blamed by many on a ruling class that has stolen from the people to enrich themselves. These economic and governmental problems have been highlighted and exacerbated by the port explosion and by the ongoing pandemic.
The port explosion, which occurred in 2020 killing 215 people, is thought to have been caused by abandoned and poorly stored ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer. The explosion was one of the largest accidental explosions ever recorded and had roughly 10% of the power of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Due to widespread property damage, tens-of-thousands of Lebanese people remain homeless.
Hezbollah opposes the appointment of Judge Tarek Bitar to the enquiry as they claim that he may be highly critical of senior Hezbollah politicians in the Lebanese government while overlooking the accountability of their rivals.
U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said of the inquiry and the shooting:
"The Lebanese people deserve no less, and the victims and the families of those lost in the port blast deserve no less. Today's unacceptable violence makes clear what the stakes are."
[h/t: Associated Press]
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