Day of rage and mourning in Lebanon after Gaza hospital massacre
Security forces fired Wednesday tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters who rallied outside the U.S. embassy in the Beirut suburb of Awkar to condemn an Israeli strike on a Gaza hospital.
Protestors hurled stones, many of them wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves and raising the Palestinian flag. Local media outlets reported cases of suffocation, amid heavy tear gas fire that made it difficult for medics to help the suffocating protesters.
Army troops later advanced towards the protesters and managed to disperse them after firing rubber bullets and beating up some of them. Al-Manar television said several protesters were injured by tear gas and batons.
Hezbollah had called for a "day of rage" to condemn the strike on Gaza's Al-Ahli hospital, blaming Israel for what it called a "massacre" and a "brutal crime".
"Let tomorrow, Wednesday, be a day of rage against the enemy," Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, said in a statement, calling on fellow Muslims and Arabs to "move immediately to streets and squares to express intense anger".
Hezbollah's call came as hundreds of demonstrators scuffled with Lebanese security forces outside the U.S. embassy, where protesters chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" , many of them covering their faces with Palestinian keffiyeh scarves.
Stones were hurled and a building was set on fire. Police fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters, with medics rushing in to treat cases of suffocation.
The U.S. State Department authorized the departure of "some non-emergency" personnel from the Beirut embassy, citing the "unpredictable security situation".
Other Lebanese parties, including the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb party, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party and Amal have also condemned the bombing.
The massive strike Tuesday night on Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City killed at least 500 people, after intensifying bombardments near towns in southern Gaza rattled civilians where Israel had ordered them to take refuge.
Across the region, the response was quick and furious as protesters tried to storm the Israeli embassy in Jordan, a country home to millions of Palestinian refugees.
Hundreds also gathered Tuesday at the French embassy in Beirut, raising Hezbollah flags and hurling stones which piled up at the embassy's main entrance.
Palestinian refugee camps in the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre erupted in anger as Palestinian factions in Lebanon called for mass rallies on Wednesday to condemn the hospital strike.
On wednesday, protestors rallied in Tripoli, Beqaa, Sidon city, and outside the ESCWA's headquarters in Beirut to condemn the Israeli deadly strike on the hospital, while Hezbollah called for two protests in Baalbek and Haret Hreik in the southern suburb of Beirut.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati declared Wednesday a national day of mourning.
Source: Associated Press
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