A 38-year-old protester said that he saw about five officers beating a protester on the head and a girl on her neck. Another protester said that she saw several riot police beating a protester who was having trouble breathing due to the teargas. The protester said that her neck was injured and that she needed five stitches for a cut on her head. When she started bleeding profusely, another officer told the first one to stop. One protester said that as soon as she arrived at the scene, an officer beat her on her head and kicked her repeatedly. “I saw teargas filling up some cars, and landing on people’s balconies.” Another protester said that her friend’s house was filled with teargas. “What was especially dangerous is that they were firing teargas in a residential area,” one protester said. Three protesters said that some riot police fired teargas directly at protesters rather than in the air. Live footage shows that some protesters then threw rocks at security forces and hurled teargas canisters back at them.Ī reporter for the local TV outlet Al Jadeed said that teargas was “raining down” on protesters in Corniche el Mazraa. Live footage Human Rights Watch reviewed corroborates their accounts.įootage showed and witnesses said that dozens of riot police came out of the police station and began beating protesters indiscriminately and fired large quantities of teargas, driving protesters down to the residential Corniche el-Mazraa neighborhood. Three protesters who were there before the attack began said that the protesters were overwhelmingly peaceful although some threw water bottles and fireworks at the police. Throughout the day, riot police scuffled with protesters in front of the El-Helou police station. All six protesters asked not to be named for their protection. Human Rights Watch interviewed six protesters and three media workers who witnessed the violence and reviewed live footage of the night’s events. “The vicious riot police attack on media workers doing their jobs is an egregious violation of security force obligations to abide by human rights standards. “The unacceptable level of violence against overwhelmingly peaceful protesters on January 15 calls for a swift independent and transparent investigation,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. Riot police also beat at least eight media workers covering the protests and briefly detained three. At around 9:15 p.m., the Internal Security Force’s riot police charged onto the crowds, firing large amounts of teargas at protesters, beating some severely, and violently arresting at least 55. Hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the El-Helou police station in Beirut on January 15 to demand the release of 57 protesters arrested during protests the previous night, some of whom had thrown water bottles and firecrackers at officers. The Interior Ministry should promptly hold law enforcement officers accountable for using excessive force. (Beirut) – Lebanon’s riot police beat and violently arrested largely peaceful protesters and media workers during demonstrations on January 15, 2020, Human Rights Watch said today.
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