Posted on 03/26/2003 12:54:01 PM PST by knighthawk
Security forces battle angry mob as anti-war demonstration turns violent
A demonstration against the war on Iraq Tuesday saw violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces protecting the British Embassy in downtown Beirut. More than a dozen demonstrators were detained for hurling stones and for attacking security forces at the embassy.
The demonstration included members and supporters of Hizbullah, Amal Movement, Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and Palestinian factions.
The demonstration began at the National Museum and headed to UN House in downtown Beirut, but some 500 of the 7,000 demonstrators broke off and went to the nearby British Embassy.
This group, which consisted mainly of members of Palestinian factions and the PSP, could only reach a distance of some 200 meters to the east of the embassy’s gate because of the hundreds of Internal Security Forces (ISF), army, and Civil Defense personnel who blocked their way.
The demonstrators started chanting anti-British slogans but turned their ire on the Lebanese Army and ISF personnel protecting the embassy.
However, the slogans proved insufficient and the demonstrators started lobbing stones at the ISF and the army, some 15 minutes after their arrival.
It was some time before security forces started fighting back with the Civil Defense’s water cannons. However, the battle continued and stones and sticks rained down on everyone’s head, including the journalists who were cornered with the ISF.
Then ISF personnel launched a dozen canisters of tear gas at the crowd, but this also proved insufficient to tame the demonstrators, who hurled the canisters back at the ISF.
The standoff lasted for more than an hour before the army and ISF personnel switched to their batons, targeting everyone carrying a stick or a rock. At this point, the demonstration retreated 500 meters.
Some 14 demonstrators were caught and hustled off into army and ISF vehicles.
“Do you want to throw stones at the army?” an army officer shouted at a fallen demonstrator as he beat him with a baton while other security personnel kicked him.
Many of the demonstrators hid from the security forces in a nearby building, but they were followed inside and violently dragged out.
Two ISF personnel and four demonstrators were overcome by the tear gas, while 14 people were detained for an hour and then released.
After the scuffle, the arrests and the departure of most of the demonstrators, a small number of demonstrators opted to stay and continue hurling stones at the safely distanced, security personnel and British embassy.
Ironically, the demonstrators destroyed the windows of a nearby building, owned by Atef Zahnan, who according to the building’s doorman was a “large financial” supporter of the Islamic resistance in the South.
The planned demonstration, which started peacefully in a show of support for the Iraqi people, and which was called for by the Gathering of Lebanese Parties and Forces, started at the Museum at 3pm. The crowd marched on the Damascus Road and reached the ESCWA building some 30 minutes later.
Political and Muslim religious figures from Hizbullah, Amal Movement, PSP, SSNP, and Palestinian factions led the crowd as it chanted slogans against the US and Britain, as well as against Arab countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, and Egypt, accusing them of being “traitors to the Arab cause” and of being “the associates of the Americans in slaughtering Iraqi children.”
“Why are you selling Iraq as you sold Palestine?” and “Arabs are killing their brothers to win a dollar,” read some of the slogans.
When they arrived at UN House, which was surrounded by hundreds of ISF and army personnel, the demonstrators burned the American, British, and Israeli flags, while shouting anti-American slogans and calling on Arab leaders to “stop selling their people.”
Small bomb blasts British Council
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/26_03_03/art4.asp
David Sheehan
A small bomb exploded at the British Council in Hamra Monday night, causing no injuries, but tearing a hole in the outer wall of the cultural and educational facility and shattering nearby windows.
The charge, either dynamite or a grenade, detonated at 11.10 pm near the northeastern corner of the cement wall surrounding the facility, stirring area residents out of their homes and into the rain, as army and Internal Security Forces (ISF) personnel arrived to block off the street for investigators.
The blast left a meter by a half meter hole in the wall, close to where two soldiers are normally stationed on Sadat Street.
The location of the blast made it likely that the guards weren’t at their post at the time of the explosion, with local residents and proprietors saying on-duty soldiers often seek shelter from the rain in nearby nooks.
Police said the bomb weighed 400 grams, but it was unclear if the assailant placed the charge by hand or threw it from a passing car.
Those at the scene reported that a man had been arrested later confirmed by security sources but he was released shortly thereafter.
The Military Prosecutor’s Office is heading investigations, with judicial sources saying the incident could be the result of local anger toward the US-led war on Iraq.
The explosion rattled homes and cracked windows, with residents quickly realizing that it wasn’t thunder or the occasional dynamite blast from a nearby construction site.
The night clerk at the Pearl, a residence on the southeast corner of the intersection of Sadat and Mahatma Ghandi Streets and just 20 meters from the blast, said the explosion “shook him from his chair.” Neighbors rushed to the intersection to gawk under umbrellas, while ISF vehicles and Army trucks roared to the scene.
Staff and patrons from the Al-Jazz Supernight Club on Sadat Street were seen racing out of the basement establishment and were quickly followed by a stream of blond-haired female escorts, whose movements are usually tightly choreographed by their male handlers.
Residents crowded their balconies, while onlookers sneered and joked over the first attack on a Lebanon-based institution run by a government actively supporting the US-led war effort in Iraq.
“Just a little zucchini,” said a man who sells cigarettes from a makeshift stand 100 meters from the explosion and didn’t budge from his stall for a quick look.
The British Council had suspended its operations last week with the outbreak of hostilities in Iraq, where more than 40,000 British troops are fighting alongside the US-led forces.
“Please note that the British Council will closed to the public until further notice,” read the sign on the facility’s main gate. The British Council facilitates cultural and educational exchange and houses a library of resources on British history and the English language. On any given day, it is filled with Lebanese and Palestinians learning English or looking into educational opportunities abroad.
While army personnel barked orders for people to leave the scene, most onlookers speculated that the attack was motivated by local anger over British participation in the war in Iraq, but no group has claimed responsibility. Most gathered at the scene were young men busy trading wisecracks and bearing sizeable grins over the incident. A few foreigners appeared stunned.
“I hope one day Hizbullah comes and blows away all of you sons of bitches,” said one local man in his fifties as he passed a group of foreigners, including this reporter.
Anti-war demonstrations in front of the British and US Embassies have been almost daily since the US-led forces launched their attack on Iraq last Thursday.
Security around the two embassies has been beefed up, but both have remained open for business unlike many of their counterparts across the Middle East, including Syria.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office updated its travel advisory for Lebanon Friday, but the content of the warning remained unchanged from previous days.
“We believe that Lebanon is one of a number of countries where there is an increased threat to British individuals and organizations from terrorism,” read the advisory posted on the office’s website. “If you are already in Lebanon, we advise you to consider whether your presence is essential. You should maintain a high level of vigilance and observe good security practices.” Officials from the British Embassy and Council weren’t available for comment.
On Tuesday, military trucks and security vehicles came and went from the British Council, where at least six soldiers appeared to be guarding the facility, in addition to a limited number of ISF personnel and police. The curious were also out, checking the damage with their own eyes, while nearby establishments replaced storefront glass shattered by the blast.
Staff inside Organza, a fabric shop across from the British Council on Sadat Street, watched as two men replaced their glass storefront for $35.
The blast also broke windows at the Pearl and the adjoining Ristretto. The proprietor of both the residence and the cafe, Nadim Samaha, told The Daily Star that it cost him $250 to replace the windows, as workman shuttled 3 meter high glass plates into his popular cafe.
Abed Rahman Baghdadi, whose second story home sits at the northeast corner of the intersection, said the blast broke eight of his windows.
The explosion also unhinged creaky shudders on a residential building across from the British Council and knocked off kilter a sign adorning a closed sporting equipment store next to the facility.
According to Samaha all of the residents of the Pearl are foreigners. But he suggested the incident had done little to unnerve his occupants from Jordan, the United States and elsewhere, saying they left the residence Friday morning to follow “business as usual.”
When asked if he was in touch with army or security personnel over the investigation or damage to his establishments, Samaha said “it’s better not to.”
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