Policeman killed, many injured in Lebanon protests

Anti-government protests are intensifying throughout Lebanon today as a policeman was killed in a confrontation with angry protestors.

According to Channel News Asia, a source from the Lebanese police says that his companion was killed when, running away from protestors and seeking shelter in a building, he fell into an elevator shaft.

This latest round of protests in the Middle Eastern nation were triggered by a massive explosion in a warehouse in Beirut’s port district. The blast killed 158 and injured another 6000 plus people, some of them severely, as well as causing massive property damage. Windows were shattered in buildings more than 1km away from the site of the explosion.

Protestors and others feel that the explosion can be at least partially blamed on official incompetence on the part of Lebanese authorities, and many are calling for the resignation of the President, Michel Aoun, and even in some cases the occupation of all the ministries and a complete regime change.

The protests are said to be the biggest since last October. "Resign or hang," said one banner seen at the demonstrations, referring to the President. A woman’s voice was recorded calling out shouting, “"Really the army is here? Are you here to shoot us? Join us and we can fight the government together,"

The army had indeed arrived, along with riot police, who fired round after round of tear gas at people trying to break through a barrier put up in front of the parliament building. Scattered gunfire was also reported.

The Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, has suggested early elections as a way to end the crisis and give people a chance to have their voices heard.

Many sections of Beirut, the beleaguered nation’s capital, had just recently been rebuilt after having been reduced to rubble during the nation’s recent civil war, which took place from 1975 until 1990.  Lebanon is on the verge of financial bankruptcy right now and can’t afford to rebuilt a second time, unless foreign aid is forthcoming.

An investigation is currently underway as to whether the blast, the worst ever in Lebanon’s troubled history, was an accident or due to an external and possibly foreign actor, and whether negligence was a determining factor.