Rioters Infiltrate Tripoli Protests, Municipality Set on Fire

By Staff, Agencies

In an attempt to cause riot and infiltrate the peaceful protests across the northern Lebanese city, Tripoli municipality building was set on fire by a group of infiltrators on Thursday night, in what marked the fourth night of protests as the troubled country witnessed growing unrest over the living conditions exacerbated by the coronavirus lockdown.

Infiltrators hurled Molotov cocktails and fireworks inside the Tripoli municipality building, setting it on fire, with massive flames and huge plumes of thick black smoke coming out of the building.

Piles of paper, reportedly documents from the building, were seen littering the streets outside the municipality.

Civil Defense units then arrived to the scene to put out the blaze.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri described the events in Tripoli as "organized crime." He added that it was unacceptable to desecrate public establishments for any political or social purpose.

Head of the Tripoli municipality Riad Yamak noted that "real" protesters do not loot and set fire to establishments.