Lebanese security forces on Sunday fired tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators attempting to march on the US embassy in Beirut in protest at President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Security forces cut off all roads leading to the embassy in northern Beirut to prevent protesters from reaching the mission. The forces also set up barbed wire around 1 kilometre from the embassy. The forces fired tear gas when the demonstrators tried to breach the barbed wire and reach a closed road leading to the embassy, a police source said.
In response, angry demonstrators hurled stones at security forces and set nearby garbage drums on fire, witnesses said. Some protesters also torched an effigy of Trump. Others, waving the Palestinian flag, chanted: “God Bless Jerusalem” and “America is the head of terrorism.” The protesters were a mix of Palestinian and Lebanese leftist groups, according to witnesses.
In far away Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, thousands of Indonesian Muslims protested Sunday against Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the latest global show of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Demonstrators — many in white Islamic robes and skullcaps — gathered outside the US embassy in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country to vent their anger against the unilateral decision.
Protesters carried Palestinian flags and banners saying “We are with the Palestinians” and “Pray for Palestine”.
Several people reported temporary breathing problems as a result of being hit with tear gas, Lebanese television LBC said. In a gesture of solidarity, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Sunday ordered the Palestinian flag raised over the Rock of Rouche, a popular sea landmark in Beirut.
Lebanon is home to more than 400,000 Palestinian refugees, who are living in 12 camps scattered across the country. Lebanon does not recognise neighbouring Israel. In 2006, Lebanon’s pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement fought a war against Israel. Palestinians see East Jerusalem as their future capital and are demanding the establishment of their own independent state.
Meanwhile, Isreali Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has criticised “hypocrisy” in Europe over condemnation of US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying rockets from Gaza should also be criticised.
The Israeli leader made the comments late Saturday as he left for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and a rare meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
“While I respect Europe, I am not prepared to accept a double standard from it,” said Netanyahu, who has also faced heavy criticism from European leaders over Israeli settlement building.
“I hear voices from there condemning President Trump’s historic statement, but I have not heard condemnations of the rockets fired at Israel or the terrible incitement against it. “I am not prepared to accept this hypocrisy,” he said.
Several rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel on Thursday and Friday following Trump’s declaration, leading Israel to respond with air strikes that killed two people.
The rally in Indonesia’s capital drew a crowd of at least 5,000 people, police said. Trump’s move on Wednesday to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital upended decades of American diplomacy, causing an overwhelming global diplomatic backlash and sparking Palestinian protests and clashes with Israeli security forces.
The status of Jerusalem is deeply sensitive for Muslims, and protesters have taken to the streets in cities across the world following the policy shift.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo said Thursday he “condemned” Trump’s decision on Jerusalem, and ordered the US ambassador in Jakarta to be summoned over the move.
The Islamist Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS — which organised the Jakarta rally and several others around the country — slammed Trump’s decision as a declaration of “hostility to Muslims throughout the world.” His Turkish counterpart, Endogan has condemned the move and described Israel as a terrorist state. AFP, NAN Reports
