BEIRUT (AFP) — Hundreds of protesters against Israel's deadly raids on the Gaza Strip demonstrated near the Egyptian embassy in Lebanon on Saturday amid a greatly reinforced security presence, an AFP journalist said.
The embassy was transformed into a veritable fortress as dozens of soldiers and other members of the security forces were deployed.
The protesters, mostly from the stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah movement in the capital's southern suburbs, were kept several hundred metres (yards) away from the building in the Bir Hassan area, where other Arab embassies are also located.
Riot police prevented demonstrators and journalists from approaching the embassy complex by blocking off nearby streets.
Some shots were also heard, but it was not known who fired them.
In Cairo on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni vowed to strike back at the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gaza after a sharp escalation of violence in the Palestinian territory dashed hopes of a new truce.
A six-month truce ended on December 19.
Hamas said Saturday's blitz killed at least 160 people and medics said around 300 people were wounded, 120 of them seriously.
Earlier hundreds more Palestinians protested in south Lebanon. Demonstrators in Ain al-Helweh -- the largest of the country's 12 refugee camps with 45,000 residents -- burned tyres and dustbins and blocked the main road.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
