Beirut: Protesters attempt to storm Lebanese government headquarters

GlobalPost

Hundreds of protesters in Beirut are attempting to storm the government headquarters, as Lebanese soldiers attempt to disperse them with by machine gun bullets and volleys of tear gas from Lebanese soldiers.

The protests in Lebanon's capital are coinciding with the public funeral of top official Wissam al-Hassan, who was one of eight people killed in a car bomb in Sassine Square Friday, the Associated Press reported

The protesters are calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati and other government ministers who are allies of Syria over al-Hassan's death, Al-Arabiya reported

Many Lebanese have pointed the finger at Syria for the attacks, and some of the opposition forces who coordinated Sunday's protests called it a “day of rage” against the “butcher Bashar Assad and the black regime that rules Syria," RT News reported

More from GlobalPost: Beirut car bomb: Intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan reported dead (VIDEO)

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, said that "he understands the feeling of anger, but that violence and attempts to enter the Serail - the government palace - are unacceptable," CNN reported

“We are here to say in a loud voice that we are with freedom,” Rami Saber, a protester affiliated with one of the anti-Assad Christian parties, told the Financial Times. “We are against the neutral position taken by the government.”

Al-Hassan's funeral procession will take the late official's body to be buried in Beirut's Martyrs Square, next to assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, AP reported. Thousands of people converged in Beirut from around the country to attend the funeral, and security was heightened in the city.

As night fell, violent clashes erupted in Tripoli, Lebanon's second city in the north of the country.

Fighting between residents in the poorer neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbanah, has claimed four lives, two of whom were children, said NOW Lebanon.

Jabal Mohsen, a largely Alawite neighborhood and Bab al-Tabbanah, a Sunni neighborhood, have seen increasing violence during the Syrian civil war.

There are also reports of fighting between unidentified gunmen in Beirut's southern suburbs, largely controlled by the Shia militant group Hezbollah, said Beirut Reporter.

Highways into the area being blocked by masked gunmen who are setting up checkpoints.

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