Lebanon: Mob storms US embassy over Trump Jerusalem declaration

Lebanese security forces repelled rioters who attempted to storm the US embassy in Beirut.  

By: AP and World Israel News

A mob of Lebanese and Palestinian demonstrators violently clashed on Sunday with security forces outside the US Embassy in Beirut over President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The protesters gathered hundreds of meters (yards) away from the heavily-guarded embassy, where they burned an effigy of Trump, US and Israeli flags, as well as piles of garbage, sending plumes of smoke into the air.

As they hurled stones, security forces responded with tear gas and water cannons.

Lebanese security forces finally broke up the protest.

However, clashes resumed in the afternoon, with security forces chasing protesters, arresting a handful of them and lobbing tear gas canisters.

Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting for the scene, said “there is a lot of anger here. What they’re chanting is ‘Palestine forgive us, they closed the door on us’, clearly in reference to Arab leaders,” meaning that “protesters here feel Arab leaders have just been talking, but not taking any action. What people here are calling for is a new intifada and on the Palestinian Authority to end the peace process.”

The police cordoned off the embassy with high fences, and protesters did not make it anywhere near the embassy.

Lebanon is home to hundreds of thousands of so-called Palestinian refugees, nearly 10 percent of the population.

Similar demonstrations took place in several Arab and Muslim cities across the globe over the weekend, but none of them were of significance.