Protester Killed in Tripoli as Demonstrations Resume Across Lebanon

A man in his 20s was shot dead during protests in Tripoli, the largest city in northern Lebanon, overnight between Monday and Tuesday, as demonstrations against corruption among the ruling elite, sectarianism and a poorly performing government resumed throughout the country. The protests, which erupted last October, had been curtailed by the spread of the novel coronavirus. The Lebanese economy is reeling, with double-digit inflation and unemployment rates and a currency whose value is tumbling fast, compounded by the effects of anti-coronavirus restrictions. Security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets, as well as live fire, in an effort to put down the unrest in the streets. The army said protesters, egged on by “a number of infiltrators,” attacked the armed soldiers, who were patrolling in Tripoli. A firebomb was thrown at an army vehicle and a hand grenade was hurled at a patrol, lightly wounding two soldiers, it said. On Tuesday, the banking association said banks in Tripoli, which, it said, were targeted in “serious attacks and rioting,” would be closed until security could be restored.