Demonstrators carry an injured man during anti-government protests that have been ignited by a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, August 10 2020. Picture: REUTERS/HANNAH MCKAY
The cabinet, formed in January with the backing of the powerful Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and its allies, met on Monday, with many ministers wanting to resign, according to ministerial and political sources. The cabinet decided to refer the investigation of the blast to the judicial council, the highest legal authority whose rulings cannot be appealed, a ministerial source and state news agency NNA said. The council usually handles top-security cases.
Beirut’s governor said many foreign workers and truck drivers remained missing and were assumed to be among the casualties, complicating efforts to identify the victims.Antigovernment protests in the past two days have been the biggest since October, when demonstrators took to the streets over an economic crisis rooted in endemic corruption, waste and mismanagement. Protesters accused the political elite of siphoning off state resources for their own benefit.
“It won’t work, it’s just the same people. It’s a mafia,” said Antoinette Baaklini, an employee of an electricity company that was demolished in the blast. An emergency international donor conference on Sunday raised pledges worth nearly €253m for immediate humanitarian relief.
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