Photos: Lebanese rally near presidential palace to demand justice over port blast

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Photos: Lebanese rally near presidential palace to demand justice over port blast

Troops fired warning shots into the air as brawls between rival demonstrators broke out

Published: September 13, 2020 07:52 AFP and compiled by Balaram Menon, Senior Web Editor

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Copy of 630596-01-02-1599968948445 — Hundreds of Lebanese marched Saturday on the presidential palace to denounce a lack of progress in a probe by authorities into a monster blast that ravaged swathes of the capital 40 days ago. | Above: A protester holds a banner that reads in Arabic "Your highness the murderer" (referring to the president) during a the demonstration. Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of Lebanon_Protest_44624.jpg-7d2f2-1599968955320 — Twenty-five suspects are in custody over the tragedy that occurred when hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser that had been left unattended in a port warehouse exploded. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of Lebanon_Protest_55749.jpg-e51fd-1599968940144 — The blast, which wounded thousands and destroyed homes and businesses across large parts of Beirut, was one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of 630599-01-02-1599968951092 — The government resigned in the wake of the disaster, but Lebanon has rejected an international investigation, saying it would carry out its own probe aided by foreign experts. Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of AP12-09-2020_000180B-1599968971058 — Saturday's march set off from the justice palace in Beirut to the hillside presidential palace, where there were also hundreds of supporters of President Michel Aoun and heavy army deployment. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of Lebanon_Protest_07568.jpg-7b6ce-1599968974922 — Troops fired warning shots into the air as brawls between rival demonstrators broke out, AFP correspondents said. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of Lebanon_Protest_65957.jpg-0371f-1599968982400 — "It is not possible that no one has been put on trial after an explosion like the one that happened on August 4," anti-government protester Layal Tohme said. "The country is collapsing," she added. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of 630614-01-02-1599968932043 — Carla Moukahal, a critic of Aoun, said the president must step down. "I came here to bring down this corrupt political system. We want to oust Michel Aoun. Enough is enough," said the 19-year-old. Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of Lebanon_Protest_76269.jpg-54e81-1599968959695 — The army said in a tweet that it had formed a cordon to separate the rival protests and that soldiers "fired into the air after some demonstrators pelted soldiers with stones and beat them with sticks". Image Credit: AP

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Copy of 630625-01-02-1599968936124 — A protest movement that erupted in October last year has been revived since the blast, which rekindled smouldering rage against official neglect and a political class accused of corruption. Image Credit: AFP

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Copy of Lebanon_Protest_72158.jpg-50706-1599968978470 — The explosion, Lebanon's worst peace-time disaster, was followed by a fire on Thursday at the Beirut port, and came as Lebanese were already reeling from the country's worst economic crisis in decades. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of APTOPIX_Lebanon_Protest_35463.jpg-918cc-1599968963889 — Among those arrested by authorities as part of the investigation into the blast are top port and customs officials, as well as Syrian workers who allegedly carried out welding work at the port hours before the explosion. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of APTOPIX_Lebanon_Protest_33184.jpg-db97a-1599968967545 — No high-ranking political official has been arrested as part of the probe. Image Credit: AP

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Copy of Lebanon_Protest_80715.jpg-12cfe-1599968944275 — An anti-government protester shouts slogans during the protest. Image Credit: AP

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