Report: Army Assistance Wasn’t Called during Hamra Violence
The Lebanese army assured on Thursday that it “never relinquished” its national duties to protect civil peace and stability, noting that their assistance was not requested when clashes between demonstrators and security forces erupted in Beirut’s Hamra Street Tuesday night.
“The military institution has never stood idle and is keen on carrying out its national duties, protecting civil peace and stability,” a senior military source who spoke on condition of anonymity told al-Joumhouria daily on Thursday.
“Groups of anti-riot police and members of the Internal Security Forces took it upon themselves to preserve stability in Hamra street Tuesday night. They did not request assistance from the army although we are ready to intervene whenever requested to,” assured the source.
Commenting on the violence on Hamra Street, caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri said “Enough is enough. We as a (Mustaqbal) Movement have so far stayed in our homes but where is the army?”
Referring to earlier encounters on the Ring Bridge highway between protesters and security forces, the source said: “The ISF requested the army’s support to control the situation at the Ring Bridge when violent confrontations took place there some time ago, the army responded and helped control that.”
The commercial district of Hamra, a banking hub, was the scene of scuffles between security forces and protesters furious over informal capital controls that left dozens of people injured.
They torched waste bins, destroyed ATMs and smashed the display windows of banks using fire extinguishers, rocks and metal rods.
They splattered walls with graffiti, vandalised street signs and sparked a blaze outside the Association of Banks, as part of what protesters have billed a "week of wrath".
Now in its third month, Lebanon's anti-government protest movement is increasingly targeting banks blamed for driving the country towards its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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