Lebanese judge charges dozens over deadly clashes in south Beirut

Gulf Today Report

A Lebanese judge on Monday charged 68 people including 18 detainees with murder and incitement to sectarian strife over fatal clashes this month in Beirut, Lebanon's National News agency said.

Seven followers of Lebanon's Hezbollah group and its ally, the Amal Movement, were killed on Oct. 14 in the worst street violence in Beirut in over a decade.

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The clashes in south Beirut were the worst fighting in the capital in years and broke out during a Hezbollah-organised protest against the judge leading the investigation into last year’s massive Beirut port blast.

The battle went on for five hours between supporters of Lebanon’s two powerful Shiite factions, Hezbollah and Amal, and gunmen believed to be supporters of the Christian Lebanese Forces party. It took place on the line between Beirut’s Chiyah and Ain el-Rumaneh neighbourhoods, the same frontline that bisected the capital into warring sections during the country’s civil war.

The clashes in south Beirut were the worst in the capital in years.

The gunfire began as protesters assembled for a demonstration called for by Hezbollah and Amal against Judge Tarek Bitar, who is leading an investigation into an explosion at Beirut port that killed over 200 people on Aug. 4 last year.

Monday's charges were filed by Judge Fadi Akiki, a government representative at the military court. They also include charges of attempted murder, possession of unlicensed weapons and destruction of public and private property.

The case was referred to an investigative judge.

Glass from broken windows litters a street after clashes erupted between Muslim and Christian areas in Beirut. File/AP

Hezbollah, Amal and the Christian Marada Movement have accused Bitar of politicising the investigation after he sought to question former ministers affiliated with the latter two parties.

Hezbollah has accused the Christian Lebanese Forces party of targeting demonstrators with sniper fire.

The party's leader, Samir Geagea, has denied the allegations and said residents of the Christian-majority Ain al-Remmaneh area, where the violence took place, had acted in self-defence.

In a local television interview last week, Geagea said the trouble began when supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim parties entered the neighbourhood and vandalised cars, and that four residents were wounded before a shot was fired.

Smoke rises from the site of an explosion in Beirut's port area, Lebanon on August 4, 2020. File/Reuters

Footage released later appeared to show at least one person being shot by a soldier.

A Lebanese Army spokesperson said the incident was being investigated by a military court as part of the wider investigation into the clashes.

The clashes across a former frontline of Lebanon's 1975-90 Civil War raised the spectre of renewed sectarian violence.