Beirut explosion: Protesters tear gassed as they try to storm parliament as fury grows over tragedy

  • Watch ITV News Correspondent Emma Murphy report from the ground in Beirut as protesters tried to storm parliament

Security forces in Beirut have pushed back protesters with tear gas as they tried to storm parliament as fury grows over the massive explosion at the city's port.

ITV News Correspondent Emma Murphy was on the ground in Beirut as anger erupted from Lebanese residents.

Emma Murphy writes about the situation on the ground in Beirut

It is two days since the explosion which tore through Beirut unleashing physical destruction and emotional devastation on this city.

Amidst the grief and shock there is a growing anger. Tonight a group of protesters, around a hundred people, tried to storm the Lebanese parliament. Security forces sought to disperse them with tear gas. It will do nothing to calm the mood. As one person in the crowd told me, first we were hit by ammonia nitrate, now tear gas.

The protests are relatively small and sporadic but they are a warning of the fury in this city.

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Emma Murphy

Lebanese officials appeared to have sought to shift blame for the presence of explosives at the city’s port.

Although 16 people from the port are under house arrest, there is a growing belief among the Lebanese that the people responsible will not be brought to justice.

The blast on Tuesday, which appeared to have been caused by an accidental fire that ignited a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate at the city’s port, rippled across the Lebanese capital, killing at least 135 people, injuring more than 5,000 and causing widespread destruction.

Clean-up mission continues in Beirut, Emma Murphy reports

It also may have accelerated the country’s coronavirus outbreak, as thousands flooded into hospitals in the wake of the blast.

Tens of thousands of people have also been forced to move in with relatives and friends after their homes were damaged, further raising the risks of exposure.

It comes as French President Emmanuel Macron warned that without serious reforms the country will “continue to sink”.

As he toured one of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods on Thursday, an angry crowd vented its fury at Lebanon’s political leaders, chanting “revolution” and “the people want to bring down the regime”, slogans used during mass protests last year.

Mr Macron said he was not there to endorse the regime and vowed French aid will not fall into the “hands of corruption”.

As Mr Macron walked the streets of Beirut, he bore the brunt of the ire felt in Lebanon, as residents shouted “Revolution!".

But Lebanon, which was already mired in a severe economic crisis, faces a daunting challenge in rebuilding.

It is unclear how much support the international community will offer the notoriously corrupt and dysfunctional government.

Among the many families injured and displaced by the blast are a Syrian family that thought they had found safety in Beirut.

Father Ahmed Mohammed, whose two small children were slashed in the face with broken glass, told ITV News: ”The most valuable things in my life are my children. I wish I’d taken the hurt and not them.”

Mr Macron, who viewed the devastated port and was to meet senior Lebanese officials, said the visit is “an opportunity to have a frank and challenging dialogue with the Lebanese political powers and institutions”.

In another development, a Russian businessman accused of shipping ammonium nitrate to Beirut was found in Cyprus on Thursday by police, ITV News understands.

Igor Grechushkin was spoken to by officers, who asked him a series of questions sent by Lebanese detectives who are investigating the explosion.

Losses from the blast are estimated to be between £7.6 billion to £11.4 billion, Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud told the Saudi-owned TV station Al-Hadath on Wednesday, adding nearly 300,000 people are homeless.

The head of Lebanon’s customs department meanwhile confirmed in an interview with LBC TV late on Wednesday that officials had sent five or six letters over the years to the judiciary asking the ammonium nitrate be removed because of the dangers it posed.

Credit: AP

But Badri Daher said all he could do was alert authorities to the presence of dangerous materials, saying even that was “extra work” for him and his predecessor.

He said the port authority was responsible for the material, while his job was to prevent smuggling and collect duties.

The judiciary and the port authority could not immediately be reached for comment.

The government said on Wednesday that an investigation is under way and that port officials have been placed under house arrest.

The investigation into the explosion is focused on how 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive chemical used in fertilisers, came to be stored at the port facility for six years and why nothing was done about it.

The cargo had been stored at the port since it was confiscated from a ship years earlier.

Based on the timeline and the size of the cargo, that ship could be the MV Rhosus.

  • ITV News Security Editor Rohit Kachroo on how vast stockpiles of ammonium nitrate came to be stored in a hangar in Beirut's port:

The ship was initially seized in Beirut in 2013 when it entered the port due to technical problems, according to lawyers involved in the case. It came from the nation of Georgia, and had been bound for Mozambique.

The stockpile is believed to have detonated after a fire broke out nearby in what appeared to be a warehouse holding fireworks.

Mr Daher said he did not know if there were fireworks near the ammonium nitrate.

A Lebanese man stands next to his damaged house in Beirut Credit: Hussein Malla/AP

Security officials have declined to comment while the investigation is under way.

Dr Firas Abiad, director general of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, which is leading the coronavirus fight in the country, said he expects an increase in cases in the next 10 to 15 days linked to crowding at hospitals and blood donation centres after the blast.

The explosion was the most powerful blast ever seen in the city, which has survived decades of war and conflict.

Authorities have cordoned off the port itself, where the blast left a huge crater and destroyed a large grain silo.