Tensions are rising in the Lebanese capital as people demand justice for Tuesday's deadly blasts in the port of Beirut.
The latest toll is at least 149 dead and thousands injured, with nearly 300.000 displaced as their homes are either completely destroyed or unsafe.
The Lebanese people are already suffering from the deep recession in the country's economy and the pandemic of the new coronavirus. The double explosion in the port of Beirut and the ignorance of the political leadership, have caused waves of anger in the world, which considers the detention of port officials a smokescreen, as responsibilities reach very high in the political leadership.
7:12 Tear gas against anti-government protesters in Beirut
Lebanese security forces used tear gas on Thursday night to disperse dozens of angry protesters who gathered to express their outrage at the giant blasts in Beirut port on Tuesday. incompetence and corruption of the authorities.
Protesters damaged shops and hurled stones at police in the Lebanese capital, where the parliament is located, according to the Lebanese public news agency. There were injuries in the police intervention, according to the same source. The incidents were recorded in the run-up to the large anti-government mobilization scheduled for Saturday in the country's capital, which remains mired in an unprecedented economic crisis.
The blasts, which set fire to a warehouse where 2.700 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were stored for six years at the port, killed at least 149 people and injured another 5.000, not counting the dozens missing and the hundreds of thousands left homeless.
The port authorities, customs, some of the security services, the judiciary and the government were aware of the danger posed by the storage of this huge amount of chemical fertilizer that could also be used as an explosive in the port of Beirut, but everyone preferred to renounce it. any responsibility, to pass it on to someone else.
7:00 16 executives and employees at the customs and the port of Beirut are in custody
At least 16 officials and workers at Beirut port and customs have been detained in connection with Tuesday's deadly blast that swept through much of the Lebanese capital, the state-run NNA news agency reported tonight.
These are "officials of the port board and the administration of the Customs, as well as those in charge of the maintenance work and (workers) who performed this work in warehouse number 12", where tons of ammonia nitrate were stored, said military prosecutor Fadi Akiki in an announcement of.
So far, authorities have taken statements from at least 18 port and customs officials, as well as from workers involved in maintaining the warehouse.
Akiki did not disclose the names of the suspects being held, saying only that the investigation was ongoing.
Source: Ant1