Scuffles as families demand accountability over Beirut port blast

Police use tear gas to disperse demonstrators outside home of Lebanese interior minister, accused of stalling probe.

Riot police fired tear gas and scuffled with protesters – mostly relatives of victims of the Beirut port explosion last year – outside the home of Lebanon’s caretaker interior minister, Mohamed Fehmi. The demonstrators on Tuesday demanded an end to what they call the obstruction of an investigation into one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. They carried empty coffins and then tossed them into the yard of the building, pushing their way through security guards to hold a symbolic burial ceremony. The August 4, 2020 explosion at the port devastated the capital, killed more than 200 people and wounded thousands. Hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material used in fertilisers that had been improperly stored in the port for years ignited, causing the explosion. Many blame officials for keeping the explosive material stored at the port.