{"id":2720,"date":"2021-08-05T20:02:53","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T20:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/?p=2720"},"modified":"2021-08-05T20:09:39","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T20:09:39","slug":"beirut-explosion-protestors-demand-justice-at-tragic-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/beirut-explosion-protestors-demand-justice-at-tragic-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"Beirut Explosion : Protestors Demand Justice at Tragic Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many family members, relatives, and friends were scared by the Beirut explosion, and one year later, they are still hurting since justice has not been attained regarding the incident. The blast at the port in Beirut in August last year remains an unresolved case, and many people doubt if the responsible perpetrators will be brought forward to answer for such a heinous crime against mankind. With no closure or any criminal behind bars, one is prone to question the investigation process by the Lebanese government and if any progress has been made in that regard.<\/span><\/p>\n

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More than 200 people lost their lives, and many were injured during the blast on 4 August 2020. The enormous explosion was caused by hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate, killing many people and wounding thousands. It was reported that the ammonium nitrate was improperly stored or contained. The incident is rated among the largest non-nuclear explosions witnessed across the globe. This is referred to as the day \u201cthe city of Beirut\u201d exploded in capturing how intense the blast was and how the port workers, together with nearby residents, were affected. It was devastating because everyone was caught unaware, so the effects were huge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Lebanon\u2019s citizens filled the streets as an act of remembering the 2020 tragic day which befell their country and fellow citizens. Protestors joined the march organized to be a remembrance event where all the victims of the blast were being honored. However, the crowds showed displeasure over the lack of accountability by those responsible for causing the blast. Many individuals who were marching expressed anger which grows as each day passes without any justice being done for all the victims. A year has passed, and their government, with other responsible authorities, seems to have forgotten or buried the issue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A survey after the blast noted that more than 6000 people were injured and around 300 000 left homeless due to the explosion. Only 20 people were detained, and some were questioned by police, including cabinet ministers, but no tangible results were produced. Questions were raised about why a bulk of dangerous material used in making fertilizers and bombs was stored at a port since 2013.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last month, relatives and friends of the victims held various protests seeking justice by persuading the government to reveal the truth about the blast. It was rumored that top government officials and military personnel might be involved, which is why the issue is kept under the wraps. Earlier in July, families of the victims made bravery moves of confronting the army, making an outcry for the top military officials fingered in the blast to be investigated\u00a0<\/span>[Source]<\/span><\/a>. The military and security organizations are assigned to handle these explosives, so an error of that magnitude calls for severe reprimand for these military agents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another protest was carried out at Lebanon\u2019s interior minister residents, and the police forces had to use teargas in dispersing people who gathered around. However, their efforts did not yield any result and were blamed for undermining the country\u2019s authority. According to the protestors, the minister was involved in a conspiracy to block investigations into the blast, so they sought to confront him at his residence\u00a0<\/span>[Source]<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The public is also attacking the parliamentarians for aiding a \u2018cover up\u2019 in investigating the blast. MPs supported the motion of establishing a special judicial body that will try government officials believed to have been involved in causing the blast. These officials include caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, former Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, former Public Works Ministers Ghazi Zeiter, and Youssef Finianos. But this decision was not taken lightly by the Lebanese and families of the victims who blame parliament for trying to shield \u2018guilty\u2019 people from persecution. The body, which comprises eight judges and seven legislators, is deemed to lack any experience because it has never tried any minister, president, prominent lawmaker, or any high authority figure, so it might be a plan to undermine the law in Lebanon\u00a0<\/span>[Source]<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Given this current situation, it becomes clear that the families of the blast\u2019s victims are in agony and cannot rest until they get justice for their loss. The one-year anniversary was marked with mostly anguish and sadness, especially when the government seems to harbor \u2018murderers\u2019 of innocent people. This calls for an urgent intervention to rectify such issues so that those responsible are held accountable, thus enabling victims\u2019 friends and family to have some closure and deter any act of such negligence with dangerous materials in the future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many family members, relatives, and friends were scared by the Beirut explosion, and one year later, they are still hurting since justice has not been attained regarding the incident. The blast at the port in Beirut in August last year remains an unresolved case, and many people doubt if the responsible perpetrators will be brought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[110,108],"tags":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b.jpg",1024,683,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b.jpg",1024,683,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b.jpg",1024,683,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b.jpg",1024,683,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-600x600.jpg",600,600,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-1000x667.jpg",1000,667,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-100x100.jpg",100,100,true],"jnews-360x180":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-360x180.jpg",360,180,true],"jnews-750x375":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-750x375.jpg",750,375,true],"jnews-1140x570":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-1024x570.jpg",1024,570,true],"jnews-120x86":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-120x86.jpg",120,86,true],"jnews-350x250":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-350x250.jpg",350,250,true],"jnews-750x536":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-750x536.jpg",750,536,true],"jnews-1140x815":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b.jpg",1024,683,false],"jnews-360x504":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-360x504.jpg",360,504,true],"jnews-75x75":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-75x75.jpg",75,75,true],"jnews-350x350":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-350x350.jpg",350,350,true],"jnews-featured-750":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b-750x500.jpg",750,500,true],"jnews-featured-1140":["https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/50218711986_c3e1b4efd2_b.jpg",1024,683,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Elaine Filson","author_link":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/author\/e-filsonpoliticsphere-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Many family members, relatives, and friends were scared by the Beirut explosion, and one year later, they are still hurting since justice has not been attained regarding the incident. The blast at the port in Beirut in August last year remains an unresolved case, and many people doubt if the responsible perpetrators will be brought…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsphere.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}