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Beirut explosion: former port worker says fireworks stored in hangar


Valin

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Angry Lebanese plan major protest on Saturday, one day before team investigating explosion reports to cabinet

Martin Chulov in Beirut, Michael Safi in Amman and Peter Beaumont in London

Fri 7 Aug 2020 12.16 EDT

Dozens of bags of fireworks were stored in the same hangar as thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate at Beirut’s port and may have been a decisive factor in igniting the explosive chemical compound that fuelled Tuesday’s huge explosion, a former port worker and other sources have told the Guardian.

As angry Lebanese plan a major protest in central Beirut on Saturday, scrutiny has focused on how 2,750 tonnes of the dangerous material could have been stored so close to residential neighbourhoods for years – despite repeated warnings of the risk it posed.

A former port worker, Yusuf Shehadi, told the Guardian he had been instructed by the Lebanese military to house the chemicals in warehouse 12 at the port despite repeated protests by other government departments.

“We complained a lot about this over the years,” said Shehadi, who worked at the port until emigrating to Canada in March this year. “Every week, the customs people came and complained and so did the state security officers. The army kept telling them they had no other place to put this. Everyone wanted to be the boss, and no one wanted to make a real decision.”

In addition, the hangar housed a quantity of fireworks, Shehadi said, which customs had confiscated in about 2009-10 and which he said he had personally seen delivered on a forklift. “There were 30 to 40 nylon bags of fireworks inside warehouse 12,” he said.

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Protestors storm government agencies, ABL

In Beirut’s main square, protestors set up symbolic nooses to hang politicians whose corruption and negligence they blame for Tuesday's explosion at the Port of Beirut.

An-nahar Staff

8 August 2020

BEIRUT: Protestors stormed a number of government agencies, while thousands gathered near parliament and clashed with police.

They entered the empty buildings of the Foreign Ministry and declared it the headquarters of their protest movement. Others fanned out to enter the Economy and Energy ministries, and some walked away with documents claiming they will reveal the extent of corruption that permeates the government. Some also entered the Environment Ministry. Meanwhile, dozens of protesters broke into the banking association headquarters.

Speaking from the Foreign Ministry, Retired General George Nader said parliament's police force fired live ammunition at protestors, injuring eight people.

The demonstrators are protesting over this week's massive explosion that devastated large parts of Beirut and killed more than 150 people.

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9 hours ago, Valin said:

Protestors storm government agencies, ABL

In Beirut’s main square, protestors set up symbolic nooses to hang politicians whose corruption and negligence they blame for Tuesday's explosion at the Port of Beirut.

An-nahar Staff

8 August 2020

 

 

 

 

Portland on Steroids..Only wit a reason

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