Relatives of the victims of the 2020 explosion at the Beirut port gather in front of the Statue of the Emigrant on Sunday. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Around 100 relatives of the victims of the deadly 2020 explosion at the Beirut port gathered Sunday afternoon at the port, and stood in silence, holding signs and portraits of their loved ones, to protest the state’s proposed demolition of the gain silos ravaged by the blast.
“They really have the nerve to bring up the issue of the silos now. It’s now that they wake up and realize that there is a danger? Three months before the elections?,” Paul Najjar, whose daughter was killed in the blast, told L’Orient Today's reporter at the protest. “I am an engineer and I have not seen any studies clearly stating that these silos represent a danger. All the leaders are trying to do is erase the memory of this disaster,” he continued. “Without these silos, I wouldn’t be here talking to you. These silos have saved lives,” he added.
We are still looking for the shreds of our loved ones killed in the explosion. You are not going to destroy the silos while we are still looking for the remains of our martyrs. What is happening is unacceptable,” said William Noun, who lost his brother Joe on Aug. 4, 2020.
“All the talk about a demolition of the silos is aimed at hiding the truth. We refuse that a single peg is dismantled before the truth is known,” a close friend of the victims said in a speech to the crowd gathered. “Have you asked the investigating judge, Tarek Bitar, if it is legal to demolish these silos? No,” he added.
“We don't trust politicians,” said another protester.
The protesters briefly blocked Charles Helou Avenue in both directions. Impatient, some motorists leaned their horns, while others waited silently in their cars. Military and police officers were deployed at the scene.
Relatives of the victims had demonstrated several times over the past week to demand the resumption of the investigation, which has stalled repeatedly amid an array of lawsuits and complaints aimed at removing Bitar from the case.
On Tuesday, the Second Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation, chaired by Roula Masri, rejected an appeal by former ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zeaiter, seeking to remove Bitar from the case. The two men are implicated in the investigation into the port blast.