Initial Testimony: Gunshots Came from Shiyah
Initial testimony about Sunday”s deadly riots in Beirut showed that the Lebanese army officer who was in charge of the Mar Mikhael post where protests originally broke out was a Shiite Muslim and that the building where the shooting occurred lies in the Shiyah district.
The report carried by the daily An Nahar on Wednesday said there was no need for additional military back up at the beginning when the protest was still restricted to a small activity by a group of young men who blocked
the road opposite the army post with burning tires.
It said troops manning the position informed the protestors that they were going to remove the tires and reopen the road.
But the protestors responded by tossing stones and sticks at soldiers, wounding one of them, according to the report. It said other rioters, meanwhile, tried to unarm a trooper and attempted to climb on top of an armored vehicle.
The army then fired warning shots in the air to disperse the protestors, the report added.
It said it was at that point that shooting came from the neighboring Shiyah district where army vehicles received several bullet riddles, prompting troops to fire back.
Several people were wounded in the shooting, the report said.
It said the building where the shooting occurred is located in Shiyah and not at Ein el-Rummaneh where it was
originally thought.
Meanwhile, the pro-opposition al-Akhbar newspaper said Hizbullah and Amal movement were waiting for the results of the investigation into Sunday”s riots before announcing their stance regarding their support for consensus presidential candidate army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman.
The paper said Hizbullah and Amal would convey their stand to Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who is expected to return to Beirut soon to resume efforts to implement an Arab plan aimed at ending the prolonged political crisis.
Moussa has warned that “if blood spills over into the streets, chaos will prevail and there will be different positions and many forces will interfere.”
The Arab League chief put particular blame for the crisis on pro-Syrian groups in Lebanon, saying they intentionally held up the elections with new demands.
Moussa also warned that an Arab leadership summit scheduled for March 28 in Damascus might be put off if
the Lebanese crisis remained unresolved.
Military police have begun investigations into Sunday”s incidents that left eight people killed in violent riots in Beirut”s southern suburbs.
The protests which began in Mar Mikhael at 4 pm Sunday quickly spread to reach other areas of Beirut.
A security source said outcome of the investigation will be formally announced “so that measures against the military institution as well as against those proven to be involved in beyond-limit acts can be taken.”
Twenty-three suspects were also being interrogated by the army in connection with Sunday”s unrest.
Picture: Lebanese soldiers take positions after they were targeted in a shooting as opposition supporters set tyres on fire in Beirut”s Shiite southern suburb of Shiyah, Lebanon Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008. Dozens of angry people protesting electricity rationing closed a major intersection south of Beirut Sunday and troops had to shoot in the air to disperse the angry demonstrators, security officials said. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)