Lebanon marks Thursday the second anniversary of the gigantic explosion at the port of Beirut which devastated entire districts of the capital, with demonstrations by relatives of victims determined to continue their fight for truth and justice.
The explosion on August 4, 2020 in a warehouse housing hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored without precautions — one of the largest non-nuclear explosions on record — left more than 200 dead and 6,500 injured.
However, the investigation opened in Lebanon has been hampered by political interference and no state representative has so far been held responsible for the tragedy which has experienced a new development last week. Several badly damaged grain silos in the port enclosure have collapsed, and others are in danger of collapsing, experts say.
“I hope seeing the silos fall will give people the will to fight for justice, to fight with us,” Tatiana Hasrouty, a resident who lost her father in the blast, told AFP. Politicians are “doing everything in their power to stop the investigation”, she lamented.
>> Review the 7:30 p.m. report on the explosion at the port of Beirut:
An unprecedented economic crisis
This mega-explosion is a nightmare in the already turbulent history of Lebanon, now mired in the worst economic crisis in its history, facing relentless power cuts, runaway inflation and widespread despair.
Three separate protest marches are planned for Thursday towards the port where smoke is still billowing from silos after a fire sparked by fermenting grain stocks in the scorching summer heat.
The huge explosion two years ago was felt as far away as Cyprus, a Mediterranean island about 200 km away. It affected even more a population already tested by the crisis and provoked a massive exodus from Lebanon reminiscent of that of the civil war of 1975-1990.
But Lebanon’s ruling class, accused of mismanagement, corruption and blatant neglect, continues to cling to power as the population suffers from shortages of fuel, medicine and drinking water.
>> Listen to the report from the program Tout un monde in the Quarantine district, which adjoins the port and where, despite the trauma, life has resumed:
United Nations calls for international investigation
The investigation is in danger of collapsing, as the lead investigator, Tarek Bitar, has been prevented from continuing his mission by a series of lawsuits against him and a campaign led in particular by the powerful armed movement of Hezbollah, heavyweight of local political life.
Independent UN and NGO experts on Wednesday called for an international investigation to be launched “without delay”, stressing that it was “clearer today than ever that the national inquiry cannot deliver justice”. .
afp/ther