EXPLOSIONS HEARD, SHOTS FIRED AS LEBANESE COURT DISMISSES BID TO REMOVE BEIRUT BLAST JUDGE

Thu 14 October 2021:

During a protest against the judge in charge of the city’s port blast investigation, two explosions were heard in Beirut, and at least two persons were killed by gunfire, according to an army source.

According to a hospital source, gunshots erupted near the protest site, wounding at least eight more individuals. According to Al Arabiya sources, rocket-propelled grenades were also used.

On Thursday, heavy gunfire heard in Beirut near an area where supporters of the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah and its allies had gathered to protest the judge probing last year’s disastrous port explosion.

In a live broadcast by Lebanon’s al-Jadeed TV, people raced for shelter as bullets and ambulance sirens could be heard. The source of the gunshot near the Tayouneh traffic circle, according to its reporter on the ground, was not immediately clear.

The Lebanese army reportedly fired shots to disperse a crowd in Beirut, and Hezbollah and supporters of the Amal Movement are said to have fired back, according to an Al Arabiya correspondent.

The army has arrested a sniper in Badoro Street, according to al-Jadeed.

It was not immediately clear what triggered the gunfire. A journalist with The Associated Press saw one man open fire with a pistol during the protest.

Images of people running in the street and trying to take cover were broadcast by news channel al-Jadeed.

Breaking : Demonstrators rush to rescue a wounded person after their demonstration against Judge Bitar was shot by snipers#Lebanon #لبنان #لبنان_ينهار pic.twitter.com/iDxPfyEjiV

— Hashtag Elyoum (@Hashtagelyoum) October 14, 2021

The protest outside the Justice Palace was called for by the powerful Hezbollah group and its allies who are demanding the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar.

Documents show that a court dismissed a legal complaint against Tarek Bitar, the judge, earlier on Thursday, allowing him to start his inquiry into the August explosion, which killed over 200 people.

“Bitar does not fall under the court’s jurisdiction so it does not have the authority to consider requests for his dismissal,” the official said.

Bitar, who has been the target of a political campaign organized by Hezbollah and Amal, was forced to put his investigation on hold for the second time in less than a month on Tuesday due to lawsuits filed by former ministers he had called on suspicion of criminal negligence.

Bitar had issued an arrest warrant for Khalil, the right-hand man of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri – the most senior Shia in the state – and a close Hezbollah ally, shortly before the investigation was suspended.

The protest followed a speech on Monday by Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah who called for an “honest” judge to replace Bitar.

One of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history occurred on August 4, when hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser exploded at a port warehouse.

The blast sent shockwaves as far as Cyprus, destroying large swaths of Beirut, killing at least 215 people and injuring thousands more, some of whom were many kilometers away from the blast site.

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