Rescuers comb Beirut port rubble as first arrests made over explosion
- Anti-government protests erupt as authorities detain 16 people as part of probe into the deadly blast
- Lebanon’s Hezbollah ‘categorically denies’ storing arms at the port
Shock has turned to anger in Lebanon since Tuesday’s colossal explosion killed at least 154 people and devastated swathes of the capital, with security forces firing tear gas at demonstrators who gathered near parliament late Thursday.
The revelation that a huge shipment of hazardous ammonium nitrate fertiliser had languished for years in a warehouse in the heart of the capital served as shocking proof to many Lebanese of the rot at the core of their political system.
What ignited the 2,750 tonnes of fertiliser is still unclear – officials have said work had recently begun on repairs to the warehouse, while fireworks were stored nearby.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday strongly denied claims that his powerful Shiite movement had stored arms at the site of the blast.
“I categorically deny” such rumours, Nasrallah said in a televised speech. “We have nothing in the port: not an arms depot, nor a missile depot nor missiles nor rifles nor bombs nor bullets nor ammonium nitrate.”
Near the seat of the explosion, next to the carcass of the port’s giant grain silos, rescue teams from France, Germany and Italy coordinated their search efforts.