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BEIRUT — Lebanon marked the second anniversary of its defunct protest movement with a low-key demonstration in Beirut on Sunday, while many stayed away amid grinding economic woes and deadly tensions over a port blast probe.

Dozens marched under rain clouds towards Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut, an AFP photographer said.

Mass protests bringing together Lebanese from all backgrounds erupted on October 17, 2019, denouncing deteriorating living conditions as well as alleged official graft and mismanagement, after the government announced a plan to tax phone calls made over messaging service WhatsApp.

Cross-sectarian demonstrations swept the country, demanding the overthrow of political barons in power since at least the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Two years on, Lebanon is mired in a ballooning financial crisis compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, and battered by a devastating explosion at Beirut’s port on August 4 last year.

Draconian banking restrictions have prevented many Lebanese from accessing their savings, while the local currency has lost more than 90 per cent of its value to the dollar on the black market.

Almost 80 per cent of the population live in poverty, struggling to put food on the table amid endless price hikes, fuel shortages and power cuts.

Protester Rabih Zein said it was not just previous police crackdowns that had kept demonstrators away on Sunday.

“If anyone is wondering why there are not many people, it’s because they’ve deprived us of petrol, electricity and the money we put in banks,” he said.

Each person marching represented many more who were forced to stay at home, Zein claimed.

“Today is a symbolic stand. God willing, we will move towards change at the parliamentary elections” next spring, said the 37-year-old television producer from the northern city of Tripoli.

The protest movement has given birth to a flurry of new political groups, which many hope will run in the upcoming polls.

The massive port blast killed more than 210 people and wrecked swathes of Beirut. But no one has yet been held accountable in a domestic investigation which top politicians have tried to hamper at every turn.

On Thursday, seven people were killed in central Beirut in violence following a rally by supporters of the country’s two main Shiite parties calling for the dismissal of the lead investigator in the case.

Fatima Mahyu, a protester from Beirut, said some people were likely too scared to come out on Sunday.

“There is fear and weariness,” said the mother of two, both of whom have emigrated.

“People are exhausted.”

ALGIERS — Rabah Sahili had just turned 19 when he arrived in central Paris for a peaceful demonstration by Algerians 60 years ago.

What he witnessed, he told AFP in an interview, was police savagery in a crackdown which killed dozens and perhaps as many as 200, according to historians’ estimates. The official death toll at the time was three.

President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday condemned as “inexcusable” the crimes committed on October 17, 1961.

“The police and gendarmes showed atrocious brutality. They were raging to inflict harm,” Sahili said, his voice breaking.

More than 30,000 Algerians had gathered to protest in Paris a decision to impose a curfew solely on the country’s French Algerian minority.

The rally was called in the final year of France’s increasingly violent campaign to retain Algeria as a north African colony. This coincided with a bombing campaign targeting mainland France by pro-independence militants.

On Saturday, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced that a minute of silence would be held the following day — and each October 17 to commemorate the “martyrs” of the 1961 events.

Some were shot dead. Others had their bodies thrown into the River Seine.

The pro-independence National Liberation Front (FLN) had called on Algerian migrants from the capital’s working class western suburbs to rally at a landmark square in Paris.

Other demonstrations were planned elsewhere in the city, and 10,000 policemen and gendarmes were deployed.

Sahili was arrested as he stepped off a train that arrived in Paris from Hautmont in the north, where he and his parents had lived for years.

“We had to meet at the Place de l’Etoile to start our peaceful demonstration. We had a single task: To make sure none of the demonstrators had any blunt instruments,” he said.

‘It was savage’ 

“I was with a cousin when the police descended upon us. Because he was stronger, he tried to protect me, but he received an avalanche of blows using the butts of guns and batons that caused his leg to break,” Sahili recalled.

He said that people were being detained based solely on whether they appeared to be Algerian.

“All the Algerians coming out of the metro were arrested... even some Italians, Spanish people and South Americans” were held, he continued.

He noted that police and gendarmes were acting on firm instructions to target French Algerians.

Sahili said they were all driven “using batons” to a nearby car park, while trying to avoid being struck on the head.

“They had such a ferocity... It was savage, no more, no less,” said the former FLN member.

“At midnight, we were moved to the Palais des Sports, where we remained for three days, under the watch of the police and harkis [auxillary forces],” he recounted.

The 9,000 people who, according to Sahili, were held in the sports dome were offered no more than a bottle of water and a snack.

Then they were taken to a “sorting facility” in the suburbs.

‘Freezing cold’ 

“The camp was devoid of absolutely all services: No beds, no toilets. We slept on the floor in the freezing cold,” Sahili said.

“I stayed there for a fortnight before I was allowed to return home.”

“During the arrests, I saw about 20 people lying on the ground bleeding near the Place de l’Etoile. There were many police and they behaved like ferocious beasts,” he said.

“Algerians were also thrown, some alive, into the Seine by the police, but we will never know the exact number of bodies taken by this river,” Sahili recalled.

According to him, even before the events of October 17 a good number of Algerian activists “ended up in the waters of the Seine” during police raids.

He recalled participating in the rescue of a young activist thrown into the Seine, saying he was found “at the last minute” and would have died were it not for his youth and health.

Following the independence of Algeria in 1962, Sahili remained in France for another two years before returning to his home country, where he built a career with national airline Air Algérie.

For decades, French authorities covered up the events of 1961 but Macron was the first president to attend a memorial for those who died on the day that Sahili cannot forget.

KHARTOUM — Thousands of pro-military Sudanese protesters took to the streets Saturday demanding the dissolution of the transitional government, saying it had "failed" them politically and economically.

The protests came as Sudanese politics reels from divisions among the factions steering the rocky transition from two decades of iron-fisted rule by Omar Al Bashir, who was ousted by the army in April 2019 in the face of mass protests.

Saturday's demonstrations were organised by a splinter faction of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), a civilian alliance which spearheaded the anti-Bashir protests and became a key plank of the transition.

"We need a military government, the current government has failed to bring us justice and equality," said Abboud Ahmed, a 50-year-old protester near the presidential palace in central Khartoum.

The official SUNA news agency reported that protesters had travelled in by truck from Khartoum's outskirts and from neighbouring states.

Critics alleged that the protests involved sympathisers of the Bashir regime, which was dominated by Islamists and the military.

Banners called for the “dissolution of the government”. Protesters chanted “one army, one people” and “the army will bring us bread.”

“We are marching in a peaceful protest and we want a military government,” said housewife Enaam Mohamed.

On Friday, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok warned that the transition is facing its “worst and most dangerous” crisis.

The mainstream faction of the FFC said: “The current crisis is not related to dissolution of the government of not.”

“It is engineered by some parties to overthrow the revolutionary forces... paving the way for the return of remnants of the previous regime.”

Support for the transitional government has waned in recent months in the face of a tough package of IMF-backed economic reforms, including the slashing of fuel subsidies and a managed float of the Sudanese pound.

Protests have rocked eastern Sudan where demonstrators have blocked trade through the key hub of Port Sudan since September.

On September 21, the government said it thwarted a coup attempt which it blamed on both military officers and civilians linked to Bashir’s regime.

RIYADH — The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government said Saturday it had killed 160 Houthi rebels in strikes south of the strategic city of Marib, where loyalists say rebels have made advances.

"We carried out 32 strikes... in Abdiya over the past 24 hours," the coalition said, cited by the official Saudi Press Agency, adding that "11 military vehicles were destroyed and more than 160 terrorist elements eliminated".

The rebels rarely comment on losses and the toll could not be independently verified by AFP.

The coalition has said that since Monday, more than 700 Iran-backed rebels have been killed in air strikes in the battle for Marib.

Abdiya lies about 100 kilometres from Marib, the internationally recognised government's last toehold in the north.

Despite the Houthis' losses in recent days, they are now "at the centre of Abdiya district after a four-week siege", a loyalist source told AFP.

The official said rebels had "kidnapped, imprisoned and abused" members of Yemeni tribes who supported the pro-government forces.

Almost 20 loyalist troops and tribesmen have been killed in the past 24 hours and 47 wounded, the official added.

Another military official gave the same tolls.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdusalam said on Twitter that the rebels had faced "elements linked to Al Qaeda and Daesh which are linked to the forces of aggression (the coalition)" in Abdiya.

The coalition did not immediately respond to a request for a response to the allegation.

Yemeni Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani accused the rebels of targeting residential areas.

The Houthis began a major push to seize Marib in February and, after a lull, they have renewed their offensive in recent weeks.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in the province this year, nearly 10,000 of them in September alone, according to the UN migration agency.

The UN this week called for a halt to fighting in Abdiya, where it said the movement of aid and some 35,000 people has been "extremely restricted", including for 17,000 "extremely vulnerable" people who found refuge there from conflict in other areas of Yemen.

With about 139 refugee camps in Marib province, according to the government, hosting around 2.2 million people, many displaced civilians have become caught in the line of fire once again.

The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, 120 kilometres west of Marib, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year.

Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

BEIRUT — The spokesman for relatives of those killed in last year's Beirut port blast quit on Saturday, following fears he had been intimidated into urging the dismissal of the lead investigator in the case.

Hizbollah and allies have accused judge Tarek Bitar of political bias in his probe into the August 4, 2020 explosion that killed more than 210 people.

Tensions came to a boil Thursday when seven people were killed in violence following a rally organised by Hizbollah and its ally Amal demanding Bitar's dismissal.

The shootout in central Beirut kept many residents trapped indoors for hours, reviving memories of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

In a complete U-turn from his previous support for the investigator, Ibrahim Hoteit, a spokesman for the families of the victims, called in a video circulated Friday night for the judge to step down.

Many social media users worried that Hoteit, whose brother was killed in the port explosion, had been threatened.

In the video, he is seen glancing off camera as he speaks, in what some charge could be a sign of him speaking under duress.

But Hoteit told AFP he had spoken only for himself and denied having recorded the video under any pressure.

The only pressure I came under were the events of Thursday and the fear of sliding into civil war,” he said.

“I therefore decided to step down as spokesman” for the families.

‘180-degree turn’ 

Other victims’ relatives, who still support Bitar, said in a statement: “This position... does not represent us at all.”

William Noun, whose firefighter brother died in the blast, told AFP that he remained firm in his support and that Hoteit “was without doubt pressured”.

Lina Khatib, a senior analyst at the Chatham House think-tank, said the video was “alarming because it is a sudden 180-degree turn from earlier statements... in support of the port probe”.

“In the video he appears to be under duress,” she said, and the wording of the statement was unlike his usual language.

“All this suggests that Hoteit issued the video statement because he felt pressured to do so.”

Top politicians subpoenaed in the blast investigation have launched various legal challenges against Bitar.

But the latest court rulings have allowed him to resume the probe, which has been suspended multiple times.

Bitar’s predecessor, Fadi Sawan, was removed by a court in February.

ISTANBUL — Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday vowed continuity in Germany’s relations with Turkey that included both cooperation and criticism of Ankara as she paid her final visit to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Merkel and Erdogan developed complex but close relations over the German chancellor’s 16-year term that navigated the perils of Turkey’s tumultuous ties with the West.

Their personal bond was instrumental in helping Europe manage a refugee crisis in 2016 and calm simmering tensions in the east Mediterranean last year.

Merkel also helped iron out some of the difficulties that have crept into Erdogan’s relations with Washington and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The two leaders had lunch and private talks in a presidential villa overlooking the Bosphorus on the latest leg of Merkel’s parting foreign tour.

“I have always said that our collaboration was very good in the years that I worked with Mr Erdogan,” Merkel told reporters after the talks.

“ We could have differences, but we depended on each other,” she said.

The 67-year-old German leader said her “advice” to Turkey today was to expect “the same thing for the coming government in Germany”.

“The relationship between Turkey and Germany, with its negative and positive sides, will go on. It will be recognised by the next government,” she said.

‘Dear friend’ 

Erdogan referred to Merkel as his “dear friend” twice during the closing media event.

But he also hinted at the difficulties Turkey might have in promoting its interests after Merkel formally gives way to a new coalition government taking shape in Berlin following elections last month.

“If there had been no coalition government, [Germany’s] relations with Turkey might have been easier. Of course, it is not easy to work with a coalition government,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan headed Turkey as prime minister when Merkel became the first woman to head Germany in 2005.

The two have since shared a long list of differences and numerous testy exchanges on issues ranging from Turkey’s crackdown on human rights to its military campaigns in Syria and Libya.

But Germany also played a central role in defusing a crisis in the east Mediterranean last year that erupted when Turkey began searching for natural gas in disputed waters claimed by Cyprus and Greece.

Analysts say Merkel was more sympathetic to Erdogan’s position because of the presence of an estimated 3 million ethnic Turks in Germany.

She has also been sensitive to Erdogan’s threats to let an estimated 5 million migrants and refugees temporarily living in Turkey under a 2016 deal with the EU to leave for Europe unless Ankara’s interests are respected by Brussels.

“Their relations were very difficult in many respects but they managed to establish and maintain working cooperation,” analyst Gunter Seufert of the German Institute for Security and International Affairs told AFP.

Seufert predicted that the new German government will be more “sceptical” about extending the terms of the Turkey-EU agreement on migrants or continuing arms sales to Ankara — particularly submarines.

“With the new chancellor, no matter who they will be... it will be more difficult to coordinate the European policy with Turkey to the level and degree Angela Merkel did.”


BEIRUT — Tank deployments and deadly exchanges of fire turned Beirut into a war zone on Thursday after a demonstration organised by Shiite parties against the lead investigator into last year's devastating port blast turned violent.

Heavy fire rang out as ambulances rushed the wounded through the deserted streets, a few blocks from the Palace of Justice, where hundreds of black-clad protesters had gathered moments earlier to demand Tarek Bitar's removal.

The judge has in recent days been in the sights of the Hizbollah and Amal parties in particular for insisting on subpoenaing top officials in his probe into last year's deadly explosion in Beirut Port.

According to Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi, at least six people were killed, all of them by gunfire.

They included a 24-year-old who was hit in the head by a stray bullet while inside her home, a doctor at the Sahel hospital in Beirut's southern suburbs told AFP.

The Lebanese Red Cross put the number of wounded at 30.

AFP correspondents heard several loud bangs in the area, likely from heavy shelling, and saw plumes of black smoke rising from an apparent fire.

A limp body lying on a main street was carried away by rescuers as gunfire rained around them, the correspondents said.

Residents cowered in corridors away from windows, as some were shattered by the gunfire. Some scurried outside, running towards ambulances as civil defence volunteers tried to evacuate civilians, including young children.

Pictures circulating on social media showed children in a nearby school ducking under desks and gathering on the floor outside classrooms.

"I'm with my cousin and my aunt, and we're hiding in a two-square-metre space between rooms because we are afraid of stray bullets," said Bissan Al Fakih, who lives a few hundred metres away from the clashes.

"We're wondering if we could leave, but we're not sure if there is a way out".

Another resident said he took shelter in a corridor for two hours before he managed to find a taxi to get him out.

"I can't handle these loud sounds, especially the RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades], its the trauma of the Beirut blast coming back all over again," said the resident, who gave his name only as Samer.

'Bursts of gunfire' 

The army reported "bursts of gunfire in the area of Tayouneh - Badaro," a largely residential area of the capital.

"The army rushed to cordon off the area and deploy in its neighbourhoods and their entrance. Patrols started as did the search for the shooters to detain them," it said.

In a follow-up statement, the army warned it would open fire at anyone firing live rounds, calling on civilians to evacuate the area.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for calm to be restored and warned against attempts to drag Lebanon into violence.

In a statement, Hizbollah and Amal accused "armed and organised groups" of assaulting their supporters.

"They were exposed to direct fire from snipers... followed by intense shooting," they said in a joint statement.

They said the violence was deliberate and aimed to drag the country into violence, while calling on their supporters to remain calm and de-escalate.

Hizbollah's Al Manar TV blamed the Lebanese Forces -- a Christian party that is staunchly opposed to the Iran-backed group.

AFP could not independently verify the claims.

Last hope 

Seen as a last hope for justice by many Lebanese but condemned as biased and corrupt by political leaders, Bitar has sparked deep divisions within the government between those who want to keep him in his place and those who are pushing for him to go.

The Court of Cassation on Thursday turned down a lawsuit filed by two ex-ministers demanding his replacement, a court official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

"Bitar does not fall under the court's jurisdiction so it does not have the authority to consider requests for his dismissal," the official said.

It is the second time this month that the judiciary has ruled in favour of the judge, who is hailed by human rights groups and relatives of blast victims as a symbol of judicial independence in a country where political impunity has long been the norm.

The ruling, which goes into effect immediately, would allow Bitar to resume enquiries into the August 4, 2020 explosion which killed more than 200 people and destroyed large swathes of the capital.

But the investigator's fate is all but clear as Hizbollah and Amal press ahead with a campaign aimed at removing him.

Hizbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah on Monday called for an "honest" judge to replace Bitar.

Tensions spilled into cabinet with a meeting on Tuesday ending in a row as ministers affiliated with Hizbollah and Amal pressed the government to support their demand to replace Bitar.

A follow-up session scheduled for Wednesday was postponed, signalling no agreement has been reached between factions in the Cabinet, with some ministers arguing the government should not intervene in judicial matters.