BEIRUT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th August, 2020) The Lebanese military on Monday drove out all the protesters from the central squares and streets adjacent to the parliament in Beirut, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene.
Demonstrators gathered in Beirut's downtown area attempting to break heavy barricades in the roads and alleyways leading up to the parliament building.
Around the same time as Prime Minister Hassan Diab was announcing the government's resignation, the gathering quickly turned into skirmishes, with protesters pelting stones and firecrackers and law and law enforcement replying with tear gas.
Additional military reinforcement was needed to drive out the protesters from the central Martyr's Square.
Protests returned to Beirut with vigor on Saturday when citizens gathered to call for justice over the devastating Beirut port explosion on August 4. Despite a large civilian presence with families and children at the protest, police responded harshly to some protesters' attempts to storm the parliament building, leading to clashes that left over 700 injured and one police officer dead.
