Man dies in Beirut demo
June 9, 2013Military officials said that a young man was killed in clashes outside Iran's embassy in Beirut on Sunday. He was reportedly a member of the small Lebanese Option Party, which had called for a protest outside the Iranian embassy protesting Hezbollah and Iran's support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"This afternoon, as members of a political movement arrived in the Bir Hassan neighborhood [where the Iranian embassy is located] there was a clash during which a man opened fire with a revolver," the Lebanese army later said in a statement. "A civilian was critically injured and has since died."
The army intervened soon after the demonstrations turned violent.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon during the civil war. Hezbollah recently announced that it was assisting Assad forces in the key border town and former rebel stronghold of Qusair. Government forces reclaimed control of the settlement this week. Qusair is around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Lebanese border.
A separate, small rally, comprising around 100 people according to an AFP journalist, also took place in downtown Beirut on Sunday.
msh/rc (AFP, Reuters)