Police Could Not Investigate Tent City Fire
Fire fighters extinguished a blaze that erupted in a tent attended by partisans of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun in downtown Beirut”s makeshift Tent city on Saturday.
A Source at the Beirut fire brigade told Naharnet tent teams managed to prevent the spread of fire from Tent number three to the estimated 100 others tents that have been erected by the Hizbullah-led opposition in downtown Beirut since Dec. 1, 2006 with the declared objective of toppling Premier Fouad Saniora”s majority government that persists in running the country.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a fire engine, was parked outside Tent City, which is guarded by Hizbullah members, and fire fighters had to draw “hoses for over 100 meters to combat the blaze.”
Hizbullah guards also prevented news photographers and cameramen from entering Tent City to cover the development.
A police source told Naharnet the department could not carry out an investigation into the incident because Tent City is “off limits” to state authority.
He told Naharnet that tenants of the makeshift city had introduced electric heaters to face the chilly weather and near zero temperature.
“Bad and illegal installation of the heaters led to short circuits and the outbreak of fire,” the source said.