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Police deploy tear gas as protesters in Lebanon try to break into parliament building following massive Beirut explosion | Police deploy tear gas as protesters in Lebanon try to break into parliament building following massive Beirut explosion |
(30 minutes later) | |
Huge crowds have gathered near Lebanon's parliament building, blaming the government for the massive ammonium nitrate explosion. Police responded with tear gas after demonstrators threw stones and tried to break the barriers. | |
Livestream video from the streets shows riot police, armed with shields, pushing forward to disperse crowds from outside the parliament building as tear gas floods the air. Protesters, mostly masked to protect them from Covid-19, are throwing rocks and projectiles directly at the security forces – some of them hurling the projectiles directly back – and refusing to leave. | |
Thousands gathered on Beirut’s Martyrs' Square, next to the parliament building. | |
Video shows that more demonstrators were marching there from Mar Mikhael, one of the areas most impacted by the explosion. The protesters are calling for the government to be overthrown. | |
The ammonium nitrate that caused the massive explosion in Beirut on Wednesday is currently being investigated, but many already believe it to be the result of negligence, as the highly explosive chemical was stored at a port for six years with little to no oversight or security measures. | |
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