BEIRUT — Dozens of relatives of
those killed in Lebanon's
port blast gathered Sunday to mark 11 months since
the catastrophe and urge answers from a sluggish probe towards prosecuting
those responsible.
اضافة اعلان
Hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded on the dockside
on August 4 last year, killing more than 200 people, injuring thousands, and
ravaging swathes of the capital.
It emerged afterwards that top political and security officials, including
then prime minister Hassan Diab, had known about the explosives being stored
unsafely at the port for years.
Among the men, women and children who rallied Sunday outside the port was
47-year-old mother of three Raghida al-Zein, dressed in black and clutching a
portrait of her husband killed in the blast.
"I lost the pillar of our home, a friend. We have lost
everything," she said, accusing officials of being "without a
conscience".
Nearby a teenager and young girl held up a banner that read: "The wives
and children of the Beirut port martyrs demand justice."
Ibrahim Hoteit, who lost his brother Sarwat, said the families of the
victims needed to know the truth.
"We live in a country run by gangs," he said of the deeply divided
political class, which many accuse of incompetence and corruption.
Retired army officer Elias Tanios Maalouf, 61, said he had lost his son
George, a soldier who had been stationed at the entrance of the port when the
fertiliser blew up on the evening of August 4, 2020.
"George was taken, and with it all the joy in life," he said.
Maalouf described the authorities as "corrupt and criminal", but
said he held hope in the judiciary.
The judge investigating the blast said Friday he had summoned outgoing
premier Diab and taken steps towards indicting several former ministers and
security officials over the explosion.
A similar move led to his predecessor being thrown off the case in February,
after causing an uproar among the political elite for issuing charges against
Diab and former cabinet ministers.
Lebanon's government resigned after the explosion, but has remained in a
caretaker capacity as the country's many political parties bicker over shares
in a new cabinet.
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