Lebanon police summon relatives of 2020 blast victims for questioning over alleged rioting

Several relatives of the victims of the massive 2020 explosion at Beirut’s port show up today to answer questions by police after they were accused of rioting and vandalism during protests over the stalled investigation into the blast.

The rioting last week saw the relatives hurl rocks at the Beirut Justice Palace and burn tires outside the building, decrying years of what they say is political interference in the probe.

The Aug. 4, 2020, explosion killed more than 215 people, injured 6,000 and devastated entire neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital after hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in fertilizers, detonated in a port warehouse.

Today, 13 relatives of blast victims show up to answer police summons over the rioting. As they are being questioned inside the police compound, hundreds of other relatives of the blast victims, activists, and some lawmakers protest outside and condemn the country’s ruling elite. They say the elite’s lock on power has kept its members immune from accountability.