Vehicles Vandalized in Beirut Streets during Night Clashes

Dozens of vehicles in Monot street and Saifi village, east of Beirut Central District, were vandalized after AMAL and Hizbullah supporters attacked anti-government protesters after midnight on Sunday across the Ring Bridge thoroughfare.

With army reinforcements intervening to diffuse tensions, AMAL and Hizbullah supporters reportedly tried to find a way out fleeing through side roads of Monot, Saifi and other.

According to witnesses, a group of men chanting 'Shia, Shia' torched vehicles and smashed with metal rods and stone bricks the windows of an entire row of cars parked on the side of Monot street and Saifi.

An old man, a taxi driver, had his cab parked in Monot and all smashed up. “I live here, I woke up to the scene, I hope someone would compensate for me,” he told LBCI.

“I am one of the residents of Monot street,” a young female whose car was torched told LBCI reporter. “We were at home, we were not taking part in any of the protests taking place in the Ring area. At around 2:00 a.m. we heard people screaming and chanting ‘Shia Shia’ and then we heard the sound of shattering glass. They did all that to the entire vehicles parked here,” she said.

Clashes erupted throughout the night between rival groups, some of the worst violence since protests against the country’s ruling elite began last month.

The confrontations began Sunday evening after supporters of the country’s two main Shiite political parties, Hizbullah and the AMAL Movement of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, attacked protesters who had blocked a main Beirut thoroughfare known as the Ring Road.

The young men arrived on scooters carrying clubs and metal rods and chanting pro-Hizbullah slogans, beating up several of the protesters. Both sides then threw stones at each other for hours as security forces formed a barrier to keep them apart. The clashes lasted until early Monday morning.

Lebanon’s massive protests against corruption and mismanagement by the country’s leaders are now in their second month, but have so far remained largely peaceful.