Al-Nour Square, Tripoli
Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest city and its most impoverished, has been a centre for demonstrations and rioting against the country’s political class. Thousands of Lebanese gathered in Tripoli to hold a protest campaign going in the northern city called "the wife of the revolution".Â
Despite its conservative standing, impoverished Tripoli has been the festive nerve centre of anti-graft protests across Lebanon since October 17, 2019. Protesters in the main square waved Lebanese flags and kept mobile phones skyward as torches while singing the national anthem in solidarity. On the tenth day of largely peaceful anti-government demonstrations in Lebanon, many people were injured in clashes with the army near the northern city of Tripoli.Â
In a statement, Lebanon's army said it engaged in a clash between demonstrators and civilians who were attempting to drive through the closed road and were pelted with stones and fireworks. The death of demonstrator Omar Taibi at the hands of authorities, on the fourth day of protests, has added fuel to the flames.
In the aftermath of Taibi's assassination, over 200 people were wounded in clashes between demonstrators and security forces. The army shoot in the air, as well as tear gas and rubber bullets, injuring many civilians. The demonstrators denounced Lebanon’s extended shutdown that has exacerbated already dire conditions. The confluence of the crises has posed the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since the end of its civil war in 1990.