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Rival students clash in Lebanon | Rival students clash in Lebanon |
(20 minutes later) | |
Clashes at a Beirut university between students from rival political factions have left at least one person dead and more than 20 injured, reports say. | |
Fighting between government supporters and opponents broke out at the Beirut Arab University in the south of the capital and moved on to the streets. | Fighting between government supporters and opponents broke out at the Beirut Arab University in the south of the capital and moved on to the streets. |
The army has been called in to try to break up the crowds and restore order. | |
This follows a crippling Hezbollah-led opposition strike on Tuesday during which three people died in clashes. | |
Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has been campaigning since the beginning of December to replace the Western-backed cabinet with a government in which it would have a veto. | |
The protesters see the government as being too close to the West, and accuse it of bankrupting Lebanon. | |
Correspondents say the area has a mixed Sunni and Shia population. | Correspondents say the area has a mixed Sunni and Shia population. |
Some of the injuries came as a result of gunfire in clashes that included battles with sticks and rocks. | |
The violence has spread to other parts of the capital. Cars and tyres have been set on fire, blocking roads. Soldiers have been firing shots in to the air, trying to disperse the crowds. | |
The BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says the clashes will be difficult for the army to contain as this is a house-to-house, street-to-street running battle. |