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Demonstrators gather in Paris and Beirut to commemorate port blast

Nearly 150 people gathered in the French capital; some relatives of victims gathered in Beirut to demand justice, while the investigation is still deadlocked.

Demonstrators gather in Paris and Beirut to commemorate port blast

Victims' relatives gathered in front of the port of Beirut to commemorate the Aug. 4 explosion, March 4, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)

BEIRUT/ PARIS — A few dozen demonstrators gathered in Paris and Beirut Saturday afternoon, to commemorate the monthly anniversary of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion.

The demonstrators called for progress in the investigation into the deadly blast that claimed more than 220 lives and injured more than 6,500 people. The investigation has faced incessant political and judicial interference.

Victims' relatives gathered in front of the port of Beirut to commemorate the Aug. 4 explosion, March 4, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient Today)

'A trace of hope'

In Beirut, a few dozen relatives of victims gathered after 5 p.m. in front of the Beirut port, near the Emigrant statue, and observed a minute's silence at 6:07 p.m., the minute the Beirut blast happened on Aug. 4, 2020.

In a statement issued Saturday, a collective of relatives of victims denounced "the obstructionists who meddled in the investigation, want to hide the truth and obstruct the course of justice."

The group says it "felt a trace of hope" when London's Magistrates' Court recently ruled in favor of the victims of the explosion — a civil claim against Savaro Ltd, a chemical trading company that allegedly purchased the shipment of ammonium nitrate in Georgia. The chemicals were then improperly stored at Beirut port for around six years, setting the stage for the port explosion.

The group recalled that it had filed a complaint against several people deemed responsible, including the public prosecutor at the Lebanese Court of Cassation Ghassan Oueidat, who is "removed from the case because of his [close] relationship to some of the defendants."

The mother of a man killed in the explosion during a commemoration in front of the Beirut port, March 4, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassinn/L'Orient Today)

Oueidat filed a lawsuit against Judge Bitar at the end of January, and decided to release all the suspects detained in the investigation, rekindling the victims' relatives' anger.

Prosecutor Oueidat's decisions were seen by many observers as a political act, aimed at blocking the investigation in order to protect the political class, which a broad swathe of the population accuses of criminal negligence for having done nothing to prevent the explosion.

Lebanese mobilization in Paris

Nearly 150 demonstrators gathered at Paris' Place de la République Saturday to commemorate the monthly anniversary of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Tracy and Paul Naggear, the parents of young Alexandra, who was killed in the blast, were present at the Paris demo, based on images Tracy was streaming live on her social media.

"It feels good that we are here together, as Lebanese and others," Paul Naggear was heard saying in a video supplied by one of the demonstrators, Audrey M-G. Another protestor, Savio Haykal, played Feyrouz tunes on the piano, beneath the statue of the Republic.

Protesters gathered at Place de la République in Paris on March 4, 2023 to commemorate the Beirut blast. (Courtesy of Audrey M.G.)

Several Lebanese emigrant groups organized a similar demonstration at Paris' Trocadero square on Jan. 29.

In Lebanon, victims' relatives protest every 4th of the month to demand progress in the investigation, entrusted to the investigating judge Tarek Bitar but blocked by numerous appeals against him, filed by the very officials implicated in Bitar's probe.

BEIRUT/ PARIS — A few dozen demonstrators gathered in Paris and Beirut Saturday afternoon, to commemorate the monthly anniversary of the Aug. 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion.The demonstrators called for progress in the investigation into the deadly blast that claimed more than 220 lives and injured more than 6,500 people. The investigation has faced incessant political and judicial...