Scuffles erupted between the Lebanese security forces and protesters outside the Military Court in Beirut on Friday, after demonstrators gathered to denounce the decision to prosecute detainees of last month's Tripoli riots with charges of terrorism and robbery. The protest came in the wake of a decision taken by the government commissioner to the Military Court, Fadi Aqiqi, to prosecute 35 protesters from the northern city of Tripoli with terrorism and theft "The government commissioner at the Military Court has decided to prosecute everyone, according to the legal analysis, of theft and terrorism crimes, their punishment may reach life or the death penalty. This is something that prevented their release, but if they are prosecuted by a presumptive judgment, this is a very dangerous thing,” lawyer Ayman Ra'ad said. "This means that the judiciary is moving the case to a new stage. We are no longer talking about pursuing someone for treating the security forces with intensity or passive resistance, and not revolutionaries who went out to demand a livelihood, but rather for terrorist charges that carry the death penalty,” he added. Violent protests against COVID-19 restrictions and worsening living conditions in the northern city of Tripoli lasted several days in January, leading to a number of arrests. During the riots a protester was killed and 400 civilians and security officers injured, the city's municipality building and Sharia Court were burnt and several public and private buildings assaulted and vandalised. Since 2019, Lebanon has been going through a major economic and social crisis worsened by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the Beirut port explosions which occurred in 2020. #lebanon #beirut #tripoli
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