‘Beirut catastrophe’: Lebanon’s information minister quits

• Lebanon’s information minister Manal Abdel Samad announced her resignation, saying Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government failed to live up to the aspirations of the Lebanese people. 

• At least 728 people have been wounded in clashes with authorities as thousands of protesters hit the streets of central Beirut as riot police fire tear gas at those trying to break through a barrier to the parliament building. One police officer was also reported killed.

• Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab has called for early polls after Tuesday’s deadly blast, saying it is the only way out of the country’s crisis.

• At least 158 people were killed in the explosion and more than 6,000 others injured, but numbers are expected to rise as search and rescue operations continue for missing people.

Here are the latest updates:

Sunday, August 9

10:56 GMT – Lebanese president condemns calls for international probe in blast

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun said that demands for an international investigation into the deadly Tuesday blast at the port of Beirut aimed at “wasting time”.

“The judiciary should be swift to confirm who is a criminal and who is innocent [with regards to the blast],” said Aoun in a statement released by his office and shared on Twitter.

10:29 GMT – Sixth lawmaker resigns from Lebanon’s parliament

Independent member of parliament Nehmat Freim has stepped down, making her the sixth lawmaker to quit a position in parliament since Tuesday’s deadly blast.

09:50 GMT – Furious Lebanese vow new protests over deadly mega-blast

Lebanese protesters enraged by official negligence blamed for Beirut’s enormous and deadly explosion vowed to rally again after a night of street clashes in which they stormed several ministries.

“Prepare the gallows because our anger doesn’t end in one day,” warned one message circulating on social media in response to Tuesday’s earthquake-strength blast of a huge pile of industrial chemicals.

08:42 GMT – Lebanon’s information minister resigns in first gov’t resignation over blast

Lebanon information minister Manal Abdel Samad announced her resignation, saying Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government failed to live up to the aspirations of the Lebanese people. 

“I want to apologise to the lebanese people, whose aspirations we were unable to fulfil due to the difficulty of the challenges facing us,” she said in a short statement from the ministry. 

Abdel Samad said she had tried in Diab’s government to address the demands of an unprecedented uprising that rocked the country last October, “but change remained far.” 

Abdel Samad added the government did not live up to her aspirations and she was resigning out of respect for those killed, injured and missing after the massive Beirut explosion earlier this week, “and in response to the people’s demand for change.” 

Abdel Samad is the second minister to resign from Diab’s government in one week, after Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti resigned on Monday. 

08:01 GMT – Lebanon’s Maronite patriarch says government must quit if it can’t change

Lebanon’s Christian Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai called on the cabinet to resign if it cannot “change the way it governs” the country and help it to recover from Tuesday’s catastrophic explosion.

07:23 GMT – Beirut port blast crater 43 metres deep, says security official

The huge ammonium nitrate explosion in Beirut’s port that devastated much of the city left a crater 43 metres (141 feet) deep, a security official.

“The explosion in the port left a crater 43 meters deep” Tuesday, the official told AFP, citing reports by French experts conducting an assessment of the disaster area.

06:41 GMT – German aid and relief supplies arrive in Beirut

About 43 tonnes of relief supplies from the German Red Cross arrived in Beirut overnight, the German Ambassador to Lebanon said over Twitter. 

The aid, received by the Lebanese Red Cross, included medicine, first aid and protective equipment. 

Just before midnight, 43 tons of much needed relief supplies have arrived from #Berlin to #Beirut, from @roteskreuz_de to @RedCrossLebanon, financed by @GermanyDiplo: medicine, first aid kits, blankets, #COVID19 protective equipment. pic.twitter.com/GhYRyYq8cv

— German Ambassador (@GermanEmbBeirut) August 8, 2020

05:55 GMT – France’s Macron to host donor conference for blast-stricken Lebanon

French President Emmanuel Macron will host US President Donald Trump and other political leaders for a UN-endorsed donors’ conference by video to raise emergency relief for Lebanon following this week’s massive explosion in Beirut.

Trump will participate in the video-link conference.

A Macron aide declined on Saturday to set a target for the conference. Emergency aid was needed for reconstruction, food aid, medical equipment and schools and hospitals, the official said.

Representatives of Britain, the European Union, China, Russia, Egypt and Jordan are expected to join the conference, hosted by Macron from his summer retreat on the French Riviera.

Israel and Iran will not take part, the Elysee Palace official said.

05:15 GMT – Independent candidates face uphill battle in Lebanon elections

Early elections have been one of the opposition’s demands but there are concerns the sectarian based political system and electoral law won’t give independent candidates a chance – it will be a long battle for change #Lebanon https://t.co/wnqdboTKnB

— Zeina Khodr (@ZeinakhodrAljaz) August 9, 2020

Independent candidates face an uphill battle in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, which Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced on Saturday.

Al Jazeera correspondent Zeina Khodr said that there are concerns that the sectarian based political system in the country, as well as it’s electoral law “won’t give independent candidates a chance.”

“It will be a long battle for change” in Lebanon, she wrote on social media on Sunday.

03:24 GMT – South Korea extends $1m emergency aid to Lebanon

South Korea has announced that it is extending a $1m emergency aid package to Lebanon, following the devastating blast that killed over 100 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of people in Beirut.

Even before the disaster truck on Tuesday, Lebanon has already been facing a severe economic slump made worse by the coronavirus outbreak.

02:30 GMT – As many as 10,000 protesters hit Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square

As many as 10,000 protesters had gathered in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square on Saturday, some throwing stones at police, according to reports and social media posts.

Police fired tear gas when some protesters tried to break through the barrier blocking a street leading to parliament, a Reuters journalist said.

Police confirmed shots and rubber bullets had been fired. It was not immediately clear who fired the shots. Riot police shot dozens of teargas canisters at protesters, who hit back with firecrackers and stones.

Another video from today’s protest #Teargas #Beirut #LebanonProtests pic.twitter.com/FTsIjugDvJ

— Dalal Mawadدلال معوض (@dalalmawad) August 8, 2020

00:10 GMT – Lebanese authorities accused of excessive use of force

At least 14 journalists and other media workers have been attacked while covering the latest protests in Lebanon, according to a journalist for the independent news website The Public Source.

Authorities have been accused of using excessive force against the protesters, who were demonstrating against government inaction following the deadly blast in Beirut on Tuesday.

Excessive use of force ☑️
Attacking monitors ☑️

Repeating same mistakes over over ☑️#Beirut #LebanonProtests https://t.co/CLAQQ7nux1

— Rawya Rageh (@RawyaRageh) August 8, 2020

Saturday, August 8

23:35 GMT – Hundreds injured during demonstrations in Beirut  

More than 728 people have been wounded following protests in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in response to the deadly blast that killed at least 158 people on Tuesday. 

Protesters have been demanding action from the government amid the economic crisis the country is facing even before the disaster struck.

18:59 GMT – Lebanese army expelling protesters from foreign ministry  

The Lebanese army drove out a group of protesters who had taken over the foreign ministry building in central Beirut hours earlier.

The demonstrators, led by retired army officers, had stormed the building and declared it the “headquarters of the revolution”, but they were expelled three hours later when large army reinforcements muscled in.

18:38 GMT – US says supports right of Lebanese to peaceful protest, urges political reforms

The US government supports Lebanese demonstrators’ right to peaceful protest and urges all involved to refrain from violence, the US Embassy in Beirut said.

The embassy also said in a tweet that the Lebanese people “deserve to have leaders who listen to them and change course to respond to popular demands for transparency and accountability”.

1/2 The Lebanese people have suffered too much and deserve to have leaders who listen to them and change course to respond to popular demands for transparency and accountability.

— U.S. Embassy Beirut (@usembassybeirut) August 8, 2020

18:13 GMT – Army and protesters clash near Beirut’s main highway 

Army soldiers and protesters clashed by Beirut’s main ring road near the city centre amid continuing anti-government rallies, an Al Jazeera reporter said.

The army attacked protesters with sticks, beating a large number of them, while demonstrators responded by throwing rocks at the troops.

“Take off the suit and come stand with us, then you can wear it again with honour,” a protester said as a number of them confronted a line of soldiers. 

“Tell us what you get from being with them? We really don’t understand it, why are you doing this to us?”

16:57 GMT – Latest Lebanese Red Cross figures from protest site

 – At least 238 protesters have been wounded in central Beirut;

– 63 protesters have been transported to nearby hospitals;

– 175 others have been treated at the scene of the protests.

16:38 GMT – Protesters storm Association of Banks HQ, energy ministry

A group of protesters have stormed Lebanon’s Association of Banks, as well as the Lebanese energy ministry as part of their attempt to take over the country’s ministries.

ABL head Salim Sfeir and CB Governor Riad Salameh two keys figures in the collapse of the Lebanese pound and economy. 

Protesters stormed the Association of Banks, “سقطت.” 

Banks shut down after the #BeirutExplosions when people needed their withheld cash the most.#سبت_الإنتقام  pic.twitter.com/oxs9vYN8hC

— Lara Bitar (@LaraJBitar) August 8, 2020

16:18 GMT – Policeman killed in clashes with demonstrators in Beirut, police says

A Lebanese policeman was killed in clashes with demonstrators in central Beirut, a police spokesman said.

The protests against the ruling political establishment have also left more than 100 people injured and dozens hospitalised.