Lebanon: Families of Beirut blast victims call for justice

The blast took place almost a year ago on August 4 in the capital. Although an investigation has been underway since then, no senior officials have been held accountable or faced charges. The blast killed more than 200 people, injured over 7,000, and caused billions in property damage after hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive material, was improperly stored in the port for six years.

Protestors took to the streets Friday after the caretaker interior minister, Mohamed Fahmy, rejected a request by the judge probing the explosion to question Maj.-Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of the General Security agency. The protesters were also demanding that immunity be lifted from three key legislators, including Ibrahim, after the judge investigating the explosion requested the measure in order for justice to be served.

One of the protests took place near the residency of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, where the justice committee was meeting over the immunity request. Troops blocked the protesters from getting too close to the building.

Families also blamed ruling elites for negligence, as after the blast it came to light that officials had known about the explosive substances being stored unsafely in the port.

“You blew up Beirut and put people in coffins,” read a banner carried by one of the protesters.

Mireille Khoury, who lost her fifteen-year-old son Elias in the blast, gave a statement to Sky News Arabia on Twitter where she summarized the situation: “This is not our battle, but this is the battle of the entire Lebanese people to achieve justice.”

Luna Safwan, a Lebanese journalist, tweeted on Saturday describing the situation on the ground: “Families of the #BeirutBlast victims are touring Beirut in their cars while honking the horns and shouting to demand justice, all this in the mist of a fuel crisis. These families have been abandoned bot only by our corrupt government but also by us, the people. #Lebanon.”

Families of the #BeirutBlast victims are touring Beirut in their cars while honking the horns and shouting to demand justice, all this in the mist of a fuel crisis. These families have been abandoned bot only by our corrupt government but also by us, the people. #Lebanon https://t.co/kblkAEwl7l

— Luna Safwan – لونا صفوان (@LunaSafwan) July 10, 2021

 

The hashtag “#لاسقاط_كل_الحصانات,” or “drop all immunities” was trending in the country on Saturday in solidarity with the protestors.

According to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, a private television station in the country, a delegation of the families of the explosion victims met with interior minister Mohamed Fahmi at his house on Saturday to discuss the demands of the families.

“We conveyed our anger to the minister and asked him to change his opinion and position. He asked us to meet again, but we refused that if we would hear the same words,” the families reportedly stated after the meeting.

The protests come amid a severely declining economic situation in the country characterized by fuel and electricity shortages, as well as food scarcity. The World Bank has characterized it as one of the world’s worst financial crises since the 1850s.