Brigade officers and their chief pose with Nabih Berri and present him with a patch. (Credit: Screenshot from William Noun's Instagram account)
A dispute within the Beirut Fire Brigade erupted this week between some of its members and the families of their colleagues killed in the double explosion at the port on Aug. 4, 2020.
It all started with a photo, in which the head of the Beirut Fire Brigade, Maher Ajouz, and five other officers present a badge to Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri and pose with him. This took place while two MPs from Berri's parliamentary group, Ghazi Zaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil, are being prosecuted as part of the investigation into the double explosion.
This did not sit well with the families of the firefighters killed on Aug. 4. They went to the fire station in Karantina to express their discontent and issued a press release on Wednesday evening.
In the text, they asked Maher Ajouz to "apologize," arguing that Nabih Berri "presides over a parliamentary bloc which includes two outlaws, Ghazi Zaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil."
"Berri is the source of the obstruction of the investigation through the appeals" lodged in court against Judge Tarek Bitar, in charge of the investigation. The families of the victims also denounced their "systematic repression by the parliament police," who on several occasions "mistreated or insulted" them during sit-ins in front of Berri's residence or in front of Parliament.
The brigade's public relations manager, Ali Majed, spoke to L'Orient-Le Jour about the action taken by the members who visited Ain al-Tineh. "We visited Nabih Berri, as we have done with other officials, to find solutions so that the brigade can continue its mission despite the economic situation, such as salaries, machine maintenance ... We're knocking on every door, regardless of political affiliation," he said.
'These are their brothers too'
Majed played down the tensions reported by the press, presenting them as "tensions that could be found within the same family."
"We only raised our voices, but nobody hit anyone. I was there. We're all part of the same family," he continued.
Nancy Noun, sister one of the 10 firefighters who lost their lives on Aug. 4 Joe Noun, said that "there was no real fight ... We went to Maher Ajouz's office because it was unacceptable for us that men who wore the same uniform as my brother when he was killed should pose next to Nabih Berri and present him with a decoration, while Ghazi Zaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil are part of his bloc."
According to her, the families' discontent is also felt by other firefighters. "These are their brothers too, they should be fighting like us," she concluded.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour.