Families of Beirut blast victims held a protest on Friday afternoon to call for the lifting of the immunity of Lebanese officials linked to the catastrophic explosion.
While the Parliament meeting was taking place to discuss judicial investigator Judge Tarek Bitar’s request to remove immunities, the families gathered in the Ain El-Tineh neighborhood of the Lebanese capital.
The crowd demanded that the immunities be lifted, denouncing caretaker Interior Minister Mohammad Fahmi’s decision to refuse Judge Bitar’s request to question General Security Chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.
“Any MP or any bloc that doesn’t vote for dropping the immunities, we will consider him a partner in the crime and an enemy of ours,” said the representative of the committee of families of Beirut blast victims during a speech.
“Over our blood, there are no immunities,” he stressed.
Photo: MTV/screenshot
The families later moved their demonstration to the outside of the Interior Ministry, where they shouted insults directed at Fahmi for rejecting the immunity-lifting request.
During the protest, a video went viral on social media of a Lebanese soldier being moved to tears while one of the family members delivered an emotional speech demanding justice.
On Twitter, #Drop_Immunities_Now became the top-trending hashtag in Lebanon, with hundreds of people demanding that officials be held accountable for the August 4 explosion.
The public pressure did not, however, yield the outcome the people want, at least not yet. During that meeting of the Parliament with the Administrations and Justice Committee, it was decided that the final decision on the immunity lifting would be taken within the next 15 days.