CovOps
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 |  Subject: Neverending Statist's Destruction: Clashes erupt in Beirut as Hezbollah enforces strike  Wed May 07, 2008 7:31 pm | |
| BEIRUT: Members of the opposition group Hezbollah, trying to enforce a general strike called by labor unions, fought Wednesday with government supporters and blocked roads in this capital, escalating the country's worst political crisis since the 1975 to 1990 civil war.
Hezbollah supporters blocked roads with burning tires and garbage cans, and set cars on fire to back a strike called to protest the government's economic policies and to demand higher minimum wages. They and their political opponents also engaged in occasional gun battles.
A security official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press said at least five people were hurt during the clashes, including a cameraman for Hezbollah's television station, Al Manar.
The group said the protest, including blocking roads, would be extended until the government annulled the decisions made this week that affected Hezbollah.
The government said Tuesday that it would move against a private telephone network operated by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut and accused the group of placing several spy cameras on a road outside the airport to monitor pro-government officials. The cabinet fired the airport's head of security, who was an ally of Hezbollah.
The telephone network was used by Hezbollah members during the 2006 July war with Israel, and Hezbollah officials were quoted in newspapers here saying they would consider anyone who touched the network a spy for Israel.
The violence Wednesday raised tensions in a country mired in a 17-month crisis between the Hezbollah-led opposition, supported by Iran and Syria, and the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, which is backed by the West and Saudi Arabia. The country has not had a president since November.
Several residents in Beirut said Wednesday that they feared the fighting would be renewed.
"It is going to get ugly and to be long," Antoine Madi said as he and some neighbors watched plumes of smoke billowing from nearby neighborhoods.
Many of the clashes were in mixed Sunni-Shiite neighborhoods where young men shouted slogans and then hurled stones at each other. Armed civilians were visible on some streets.
"God is with the Sunnis," government supporters shouted in Cornishe al Mazraa. "The Shiite blood is boiling," responded Hezbollah followers from across the street. Lebanese Army troops in riot gear stood between them.
In other parts of the city, officers of the security forces raced from one neighborhood to another trying to contain the fighting, sometimes shooting into the air to disperse the crowds.
"This is the first day of the civil war," a government supporter who gave his name as Omar said in the Sunni neighborhood of Tariq al-Jadideh. "They are the aggressors and they will be buried here."
A few kilometers away, supporters of Hezbollah were vowing to continue protesting until they brought down Siniora's government.
"We are staying here," said a protestor who gave his name as Abu Rish. "We have money and support from Iran and Syria and we can go on like this for another 50 years."
Flights to and from Beirut Airport were canceled or delayed as airport workers joined the strike for six hours.
Shortly after it ended, three planes landed at the airport, the National News Agency reported, but passengers, including the country's most loved singer, Fairouz, were unable to leave the facility.
By late Wednesday, Hezbollah supporters were reinforcing roadblocks along roads leading to the airport.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/07/mideast/beirut.php |
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