Lethal force used against protesters in Lebanon-Human Rights Watch

The Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that Lebanese security forces “used excessive and at times lethal force against mostly peaceful protesters in downtown Beirut on August 8, 2020, causing hundreds of injuries.”

The HRW also said that security forces fired live ammunition, metal pellets, and kinetic impact projectiles such as rubber balls, including at health workers, and police deployed excessive quantities of tear gas, including at first aid stations. Several teargas cartridges were fired directly at protesters, striking some in the head and neck. Security forces also threw stones at protesters and beat them. The forces involved included the Parliament Police, the Internal Security Forces (ISF), the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), and unidentified forces in civilian clothing.

“Instead of lending a helping hand to fellow Beirutis still digging themselves out of the explosion debris, Lebanon’s security apparatus made a fist and pummeled protesters with shocking amounts of violence,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Such unlawful and excessive force against mostly peaceful protesters shows the callous disregard of the authorities for their own people.”

 

Human Rights Watch researchers monitored the protests and interviewed 25 people in Beirut between August 8 and August 18, including doctors and other health workers, journalists, and lawyers. Human Rights Watch also photographed and collected fired munitions from the protest site and analyzed photographs and videos of security forces using excessive force that were sent directly to researchers or collected from social media platforms. Researchers identified the weapons security forces used and reviewed medical reports of injured protesters.

 

Human Rights Watch submitted questions about security forces’ conduct to the army on August 18 and the ISF on August 19, but as of August 25, has not received a reply. Human Rights Watch contacted Parliament Police on August 19, briefly summarized the findings, and asked for comment. An official, who refused to give his name, said “interview over” and hung up.

 

The HRW also stressed in its report that ssecurity forces should immediately end the use of shotgun-fired metal pellets and other indiscriminate area-fire ammunition, and the public prosecutor should open an independent investigation into the abuses and make the results public. International donors to Lebanese security forces should investigate whether their support is going to abusive units, and if so, halt it immediately.