Lebanon marks four years since Beirut port blast

Agencies

Beirut

Protesters were to converge on the Beirut port as Lebanon marks four years since a catastrophic explosion there killed more than 220 people.

Several marches were planned on Sunday to remember the victims of the blast and demand justice as fears of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah hang heavy over the grim commemoration.

Nobody has been held accountable for the August 4, 2020, disaster, one of the largest nonnuclear explosions in history. The blast injured at least 6,500 people and devastated large parts of the capital.

Authorities said the explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where a stockpile of ammonium nitrate fertiliser had been haphazardly stored for years. An investigation has stalled, mired in legal and political wrangling.

“The complete lack of accountability for such a man-made disaster is staggering,” United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said in a statement on Saturday.

“One would expect the concerned authorities to work tirelessly to lift all barriers, … but the opposite is happening,” she said while calling for “an impartial, thorough, and transparent investigation to deliver truth, justice, and accountability”.

In December 2020, lead investigator Fadi Sawan charged former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence, but as political pressure mounted, he was removed from the case.

Activists have called for a UN fact-finding mission into the blast, but Lebanese officials have repeatedly rejected the demand.