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Beirut rocked by protests as grief over blast turns to fury; ministry buildings overrun
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/beirut-braces-for-protests-as-grief-over-blast-turns-to-fury-resign-or-hang/2020/08/08/5c050e3e-d8e2-11ea-a788-2ce86ce81129_story.html
By Loveday Morris, Liz Sly and Sarah Dadouch
August 8, 2020 at 12:48 p.m. EDT
BEIRUT — Thousands of demonstrators gathered Saturday in Beirut, taking over the government ministries and facing off against security forces amid an outpouring of anger following the huge blast that ripped through the city this past week.
A protest in central Martyrs’ Square turned violent early as soldiers and police forces fired tear gas and protesters threw rocks, adding to the bloodshed for a city that has already bled so much.
Ambulances ferried newly injured demonstrators to hospitals even as the death toll in Tuesday’s explosion and fireball climbed to at least 158 people.
An elderly man with gray hair was carried out of the crowd, an eye out and bleeding from the head. The Red Cross said 26 ambulances were responding, with at least 28 people taken to hospitals and more than 100 treated at the scene.
As the clashes moved through the streets, a group of protesters took over the country’s foreign ministry, jubilantly setting up a protest camp in its marble-floored rooms.
But the mood was overwhelmingly dark and desperate.
</snip>
By Loveday Morris, Liz Sly and Sarah Dadouch
August 8, 2020 at 12:48 p.m. EDT
BEIRUT — Thousands of demonstrators gathered Saturday in Beirut, taking over the government ministries and facing off against security forces amid an outpouring of anger following the huge blast that ripped through the city this past week.
A protest in central Martyrs’ Square turned violent early as soldiers and police forces fired tear gas and protesters threw rocks, adding to the bloodshed for a city that has already bled so much.
Ambulances ferried newly injured demonstrators to hospitals even as the death toll in Tuesday’s explosion and fireball climbed to at least 158 people.
An elderly man with gray hair was carried out of the crowd, an eye out and bleeding from the head. The Red Cross said 26 ambulances were responding, with at least 28 people taken to hospitals and more than 100 treated at the scene.
As the clashes moved through the streets, a group of protesters took over the country’s foreign ministry, jubilantly setting up a protest camp in its marble-floored rooms.
But the mood was overwhelmingly dark and desperate.
</snip>
