Furious mob damages United Nations headquarters in Beirut to protest Qana
Thousands of angry demonstrators attacked the UN headquarters in Beirut, breaking windows and burning curtains in an outpouring of anger and grief at the Qana massacre of Sunday morning. "We are angry at the whole world for their silence on the massacres happening in Lebanon," as one demonstrator put it.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Sawsan Ali, who hails from the South but who was forced to become a "refugee in my own country," said that she heard and saw on television the "newest Israeli massacre against my people." |
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"They have hit Qana. They killed 55 people, half of whom were children."
Though she didn't take part in attacking UN House, Ali said she wishes the UN would "disappear because its presence is as useless as its non-presence."
Ali said: "The UN never helped us. It always favors Israel with all its atrocities, and bows down in front of the US and Israeli will. It is a UN for the strong nations, not the small and peaceful countries like ours."
Shortly after the angry mobs stormed UN House, and before they were deterred by hundreds of army and Internal Security Forces personnel, Speaker Nabih Berri called upon the demonstrators to leave the premises of the UN headquarters. He said: "In the name of Amal and Hizbullah and all national forces, I call upon you to stop all attacks against ESCWA. I know the blood of the martyrs boils in your blood and I know your intentions are well-placed but this is not in our best interest."
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Many of the protesters, mainly displaced Lebanese
from the South, the Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut, held flags representing Berri's Amal Movement and Hizbullah. They shouted anti-US and anti-British slogans and against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
A Hizbullah official told The Daily Star that the party didn't organize the rally, "as it was spontaneous after the massacre that happened earlier today."
During the demonstration, the protesters also attacked the car of the director general of the ISF, Brigadier Ashraf Rifi, who luckily was not in the vehicle, said acting Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat.
The UN issued a statement later Sunday in which it said it "understands the anger and outrage of many Lebanese and others after the carnage in Qana earlier today where tens of civilians including many children were killed in Israeli raids. However, it is concerned about the destructive acts."
Beirut
31-07-2006
Leila Hatoum
The Daily Star
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