3RD Curfew after three more are killed in Beirut violence


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Thursday January 25, 2007

Beirut- At least three people were killed and at least 54
wounded Thursday as demonstrators from rival political factions
engaged in fights with clubs and rocks outside a Beirut university.
The violence prompted the Lebanese Army to imposed a curfew from
2030 to 0600. Shortly afterwards, Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah
urged his followers to respect the curfew.

"We are using a fatwa (a religious degree) in the interest of the
country and civil peace. All of you should evacuate the streets and
leave the arena for the army," Nasrallah said. "I call on you to
repsect the measures imposed by the Lebanese army."

Thursday's violence toll brought to six the number killed in the
past three days in the country's political crisis, following three
deaths Tuesday during a general strike called by the opposition.

The latest violence coincided with reports coming from the French
capital that an international donors' conference pledged more than
7.6 billion dollars in aid to bolster the Western-backed government
and help the country's ailing economy.

Fistfights broke out earlier Thursday at the Arab University of
Beirut between students loyal to opposing factions in Lebanon's
current political crisis inside the main campus and then spread out
to nearby streets, where demonstrators set fire to dozens of cars,
blocked traffic and threw stones at each other.

Hospital sources said at least three people were killed and 54
wounded. A source in the Lebanese Army said that 14 of its soldiers
had been wounded, including four officers.

The violence erupted between students loyal to the pro-Syrian
opposition alliance - led by the Shiite Hezbollah movement - and
supporters of the anti-Syrian, Western-backed government.

According to one student, the fighting started when two students
"one loyal to the government and the other to the opposition had an
argument inside the campus coffee shop and then it spread into
violence."

As darkness fell, fires from burning tyres lit the night sky and
the sound of sporadic gunfire could be heard in the streets of
Beirut. Some roads were reopened and people were cautiously venturing
out.

The violence Thursday followed widespread unrest earlier in the
week during a general strike called by the opposition which also led
to the killing of three people and injured more than 100 others.

Tuesday's general strike was staged by the opposition led by
Hezbollah and its Christian allies in their nearly two-month-long
efforts to topple the government of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.

The chaos paralysed Lebanon for a day and added to concerns over
the stability of a country still bearing the scars of the 1975-1990
civil war.

The student riots turned streets near the Arab University into a
battleground as young men wearing red and blue helmets were seen
carrying sticks and setting dozens of cars ablaze.

"They are from the opposition. They were prepared for this. They
had helmets and sticks," a wounded student inside an ambulance said.

The students also brought tyres and blocked the streets leading to
the university.

Army troops, who were keeping even journalists away, fired into
the air to disperse the crowd.

Soldiers chased the students, who were smashing car windows and
hurling stones, as thick columns of black smoke rose into the air
from the blazing rubber.

The army cordoned off the area after the clashes erupted in a
southern sector of the capital which has a mixed Sunni and Shiite
population and which was the scene of similar street fights on
Tuesday.

"This is not acceptable. The residents of this capital are being
terrorized. We want an end to this conflict," a woman running in the
street said.

"Up till now the army has not managed to contain the fighting, and
the sound of machine-gun fire has been heard in the area," an
eyewitness told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Troops backed by armoured personnel carriers were entering the
university to evacuate trapped students from the campus.

"Students are stuck inside a school near the Arab University," a
witness said, adding that tensions were high with chaos "all over the
place."

The Lebanese State University announced the closure of all its
faculties across the country.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority in the Lebanese
parliament, called on his supporters to "exert self-restraint,"
adding the continued violence was "a way to sabotage the very
positive results of the donors' conference for Lebanon (meeting
Thursday) in Paris."

The pro-Syrian groups Amal and Hezbollah called on their followers
to leave "the streets immediately."

"We are witnessing scenes that remind us of the civil war," said
pro-Syrian parliament speaker Nabih Berri, urging restraint on both
sides. "We must go back to talks. There is no other solution."

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency