(24 Oct 2019) Squirmishes erupted between Hezbollah supporters and anti-government protesters in the streets of downtown Beirut on Wednesday afternoon, as unrest continued to take hold of the Lebanese capital.
The fighting took place as Hezbollah supporters chanted slogans in favour of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah - one of the politicians whose resignation the protesters demand.
Riot police were brought to Riad El-Solh Square to disperse the protesters.
Two women were wounded as a result of the fight.
Lebanon's president pleaded with the protesters who have blocked main roads and paralysed the nation for days, urging them to back economic reforms proposed by the prime minister as the "first step" toward saving the country from economic collapse.
The protesters, however, have already rejected the initiative and it didn't appear that President Michel Aoun would sway them.
Lebanon has been engulfed by protests since last Thursday, a paralysis that has compounded the country's severe economic crisis and is threatening to plunge it into another cycle of chaos and instability.
Banks, schools, universities and other businesses have been shuttered for a week.
The protests were triggered by new proposed taxes and have escalated into a nationwide revolt against the country's sectarian-based leaders, who have ruled the country since the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, amassing wealth even as the country gets poorer.
Corruption and mismanagement have been widespread.
Hundreds of thousands of people have flooded public squares across the country in the largest protests in over 15 years - a rare show of unity among Lebanon's often-divided public in their revolt against status-quo leaders who have ruled for decades and brought the economy to the brink of disaster.
The protests have been the first of a kind for Lebanon, shattering taboos by openly taking aim at powerful sectarian leaders from their own communities.
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