Demonstrators gather in front of Beirut's port on Aug. 4, 2024. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today)
Hundreds of people gathered in front of Beirut's port to commemorate the four years since the explosion at Beirut's port on Aug. 4, 2020.
Shortly before 6 p.m., the names of the victims were read into the microphone by the brother of one of them. A minute of silence followed, during which a recording of the explosion, church bells and a Muslim call to prayer were played.
"For the past four years, we have fought for justice, even when we were beaten and tried to be arrested," stated Cecile Roukoz, whose brother Joseph was killed in the explosion, on the stage set up in front of the port. She then lists the leaders held responsible for the tragedy, who are booed by the crowd, while some protesters chant "terrorist, Hezbollah terrorist."
Mariana Fodoulian, who lost her sister Gaia in the explosion, then spoke, warning against rebuilding the port and destroying the wheat silos before the truth is known.
After her, the mother of Elias Khoury, a teenager killed in the blast, called for an international investigation and for “members of the U.N. Human Rights Council to help us achieve justice.”
Paul Najjar, father of Alexandra, one of the youngest victims, welcomed the presence of hundreds of protesters. "We were told there wouldn't be many people, but the fact that we are all here today is a show of solidarity," he said, calling politicians "scum."
'Alongside the martyrs of south Lebanon'
“We are here for the fourth year in a row,” William Noun, brother of Joe, one of the slain firefighters, said.
He points the finger at Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. “The sayyed only shows affection for the people of the south,” he denounced.
“We stand with the martyrs of south Lebanon, even if they are members of Hezbollah, but why don’t they stand with our martyrs?” he questioned, as the crowd applauded him.
The speeches ended with the words of Lara Hayek’s mother, who has been in a coma for four years: “My daughter’s heart is still beating, but her body is dead.”
Motorcyclists during the procession heading to the port of Beirut. (Credit: Joao Sousa/L'Orient Today)
Regarding the relatively low participation in the march and demonstration, the father of Sahar Fares, one of the rescuers in the fire brigade team, Georges, said that "everyone has their reasons."
"Some think that because they were not affected, they can stay home today, or that they will come next year ... We are not forcing anyone to stand with us, but we need everyone to remember that if it was our children who died on Aug. 4, tomorrow it could be theirs," he said.
Elyssa, a protester, believed that the low turnout is due to a "loss of all hope."
"We have been beaten again and again, and we are losing hope that things will ever get better," she told L'Orient Today.
When the protesters gathered around the victims' families, a moment of great emotion took hold of those present when a fire truck, all sirens blaring, arrived at the gathering site. On the scene, women, close to the firefighters killed in the explosion, were in tears, according to a L'Orient Today reporter at the scene.
The ten firefighters who had been dispatched to put out the fire in Hangar 12 – Joe Bou Saab, Sahar Fares, Mithal Hawa, Charbel Hitti, Najib Hitti, Rami Kaaki, Charbel Karam, Elie Khouzami, Ralph Mallahi and Joe Noun – were all killed in the explosion.
A woman holds a gavel calling for justice in the investigation into the port explosion. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today)
'Their blood is on your hands'
Michelle Douairy, a woman in her thirties, wears a T-shirt with the message in Arabic: "Victims of August 4, their blood is on your hands, we will not forget your crimes."
"My message to the people responsible for the explosion is that they just need to have a little humanity," she told L'Orient Today.
"We will not stop asking for the truth, even if it takes time ... No one can forget Aug. 4," said Roudayna Makarem.
Family members of the Aug. 4 explosion victims speak in front of Beirut's port. (Credit: Joao Sousa/L'Orient Today)
Not far away, other activists and family members are planting signs bearing the image of several politicians, including former ministers Ghazi Zeaiter, Nohad Machnouk and Youssef Fenianos, who have been indicted in the case. “Criminals,” read the signs, splashed with blood-red paint. The local justice investigation into the tragedy, led by Judge Tarek Bitar, has been at a standstill since February 2023 due to political interference from all sides and repeated appeals against the judge.
The explosion, caused by the ignition of large quantities of improperly stored ammonium nitrate, killed at least 235 people, injured 6,500 others and devastated entire neighborhoods in the Lebanese capital. Ammonium nitrate is a combustible chemical compound commonly used in agriculture as a fertilizer, but can also be used to make explosives.
Many former ministers are being singled out for having been aware of the presence of these materials in the port since 2013 and for not having done anything to remove them.
Before converging in front of the port, two separate marches had started, around 4:30 p.m., from Martyrs' Square in the city center and from the fire station in the Karatina neighborhood. On the placards held by the demonstrators already present on the scene, there were calls for justice for "Beirut and Lebanon."
In the march that started from the city center, protesters marched behind the victims' families and a van, flying a large Lebanese flag.
'Reminder of the atrocities'
In Martyrs' Square, Rima Zahed, the sister of one of the victims, told L'Orient Today that this Sunday's commemoration "is intended to be a reminder of the atrocities" of Aug. 4, 2020.
"My brother will not come back, but we want to remind people that this could also happen to them," she said.
Georges Pezekhian, whose daughter Jessica was killed that day, believes that "justice means getting to the truth" about what happened, and "making those responsible pay, the people who knew about the shipment" of ammonium nitrate, "who accepted money and said nothing."
"We cannot remain silent. If we remain silent, the door will close forever," he said defiantly.
"The souls of our victims will not rest in peace until justice is done" and "Justice for Beirut and Lebanon," read the placards held by these two protesters. (Credit: Joao Sousa/L'Orient Today)
At the Karatina barracks, the promise of the victims' relatives to seek justice was written on a giant flag, unfurled in the barracks from which the ten firefighters who were killed in the explosion had left after being sent to the port to fight the fire in Hangar 12, where hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate were stored. "We swear, on behalf of all the victims and their grieving relatives, to fight tirelessly until justice is done," is written on both sides of the flag.
A giant flag held by protesters and relatives of victims in the Karatina fire station. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today)
Near the flag, and in the scorching heat, three friends, Dolly, Tania – who was injured in Gemmayzeh on Aug. 4 – and Aida, who demonstrate every year, told a L'Orient Today journalist that they "will continue to fight."
"We are not going to leave the country to them," said Dolly.
Questioned by the press, a man is unable to speak because of emotion.
"If we stop, people will forget us. We will do everything to get the truth. Our wound is eternal," stated another mother, who lost her brother Rami Kaaki. Her 3-year-old son never knew his uncle.
"It is Hezbollah that is responsible. It is obstructing the course of justice," denounces Nada, who lost her nephew.
Portraits of firefighters killed on August 4, 2020, painted on a wall of the Karatina barracks. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient Today)
Among those present at the scene, in addition to the victims' relatives, were Lebanese Forces MPs Razi al-Hage and Georges Okaiss, as well as the governor of Beirut, Marwan Abboud. Earlier, Abboud, city council president Abdallah Darwish and other council members visited the Beirut fire station to lay a wreath of flowers, while a representative of army commander-in-chief Joseph Aoun made a similar gesture at the port.
Numerous political leaders and embassies in Beirut also paid tribute to the victims in statements and posts on social networks, calling in particular for justice.