MIDDLE EAST:As the future of Lebanon was discussed this week in Paris, its capital became a battlefield. Lucy Fielderreports from Beirut
Burned out cars and broken glass litter the roadsides of Tarik al-Jadida. The pro-government area twice became a battleground this week, when Lebanon's seething tensions exploded to the surface with bloodshed, a crippling strike and Beirut's first curfew in 23 years.
Thursday's flare-up started with an argument in a university cafeteria, apparently about a general strike that descended into violence earlier in the week. It ended with street fights between Shia and Sunni youths armed with bottles, sticks and rocks, while unidentified snipers took shots from above.
"My brother was standing here at the shop door and snipers shot at him and burned the iron shutter. Praise God he wasn't hurt," said the owner of a mechanical parts shop, pointing to a bullet hole at head height in the front window.
He was in no doubt who they were: "Them. The Shia. They know how to snipe, they're good at it. Hizbullah's a mafia, not a party."
"Us" and "them". But each side tells a different story.
A senior security source said the supporters of the Future Movement of Saad Hariri, the Sunni leader behind the government of prime minister Fouad Siniora, surrounded the Beirut Arab University after the fistfight inside got out of hand. The university is in the mainly Sunni area of Tarik al-Jadida and students are roughly 50/50 Sunni-Shia. Shia students were not allowed out for two hours.
As the army negotiated for their release, vanloads of supporters of the Shia Amal group turned up. Youths on both sides were soon hurling rocks and bottles and beating each other up.
"I was injured by a stone in the battle," said student Fadi Harb, a bloody bandage round his forehead, as he examined two blackened cars opposite the university yesterday. "They were throwing stones, shooting." Was he taking part? "Of course I was throwing stones, this is my area. Am I going to just let them come in?"
Snipers on the roofs opposite killed two Amal supporters and fired at the army, the source said, which forced the sides apart. Other reports, including Reuters news agency, put the number of deaths at four.
"There are such tensions inside people, not just in Beirut, but all over Lebanon. Any small conflict or dispute between two people could soon develop into the sort of clashes we saw yesterday," the source said. The identity and allegiance of the snipers are not known.
As news and rumours chased around Beirut, the roads became jammed with people heading home, and lines of people waiting anxiously for taxis.
By sunset black smoke billowed from burning tires blocking near-empty streets. Youths with coshes and scarves or hoods over their faces appeared on corners in the rundown, mixed Shia-Sunni quarters that risk becoming the new frontline.
In Basta, one such area, the bus ahead of us was attacked with sticks. Rubbish bins were upturned to block its way, and the driver had to turn back.
"I blame the people who are falling in behind their leaders. All right, so Iran and America are fighting here, but with whose help?" said one woman in the optician's opposite the closed university gates. "Lebanon is burning at the hands of its people."
All sides appealed for calm. Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah issued a rare edict to call his supporters off the streets. Hariri called on his loyalists to show restraint.
"I call on everyone to return to the voice of reason," the prime minister said at a Paris aid conference, which resulted in a $7.6 billion aid pledge.
The army clamped a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the capital, the first since 1984 at the height of the war. After dark, only the occasional volley of bullets acting as a warning, or the rumble of armoured personnel carriers, broke the silence.
Streets returned to normal yesterday but schools and universities remained closed for fear of further strife among students.
The strike on Tuesday was part of a sustained campaign to topple the US-backed government, or at least garner a veto-wielding share, by the opposition composed of Syrian and Iranian-backed Hizbullah, Christian leader Michel Aoun and smaller groups. The government has refused the demands and brands the opposition campaign a coup attempt.
Burning tyres, rubble and bins blocked roads across the country, bringing it to a standstill, and a black pall of smoke shrouded an otherwise eerily silent capital. Three people were killed and 176 injured.
Rival Christian groups fought each other on the roads north of Beirut and in the capital's eastern areas, reviving wartime acrimony. The army came under fire on both days.
As yet, war is seen as unlikely, partly because of the lack of weaponry, except for those held by Hizbullah, which insists theirs are for use only against Israel. However, most people expect more street violence.
Opposition protests started on December 1st, when protesters set up camp outside the prime minister's offices in downtown Beirut. Lebanon has been split since former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri was assassinated in February 2005, which many blamed on Syria. The fault-line became a chasm after the war between Israel and Hizbullah last summer.
National media, each with its own allegiance, rushed to point the finger on Thursday. Future Television of the eponymous Sunni party showed live footage of protesters hurling stones and burning cars. "These are the [ opposition] coup-plotters, this is not how students behave . . ." said the presenter.
When one of the protesters yelled an obscene insult against Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah's secretary-general, Future cut back to the studio.