BEIRUT (AFP) — The Lebanese army was on high alert in the capital Beirut on Monday as funerals were held for some of the six people killed in weekend riots that have stoked fears of civil unrest.
Troops were out in force, setting up sandbags and checkpoints along roads leading from the mainly Shiite neighbourhoods of southern Beirut to Christian areas of the capital.
The scene was a stark reminder of the beginning of the 1975-1990 civil war as the first line of demarcation at the time was in the same area.
The army said six people were shot dead in Sunday's riots, including activists from Syrian-backed opposition parties Amal and Hezbollah. About 29 people were injured, the army said.
Officials had earlier reported seven people killed in what the Arabic newspaper Al-Mustaqbal termed "Black Sunday".
Funeral processions were held in Beirut and southern Lebanon for several victims, with mourners angrily accusing the government and the army of being responsbile for the unrest. There were no reports of clashes.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora declared Monday a day of mourning and ordered all schools and universities shut in an apparent attempt to prevent further clashes between rival political groups.
"This is an hour of sadness. Our country is passing through the most dangerous times," he said after the riots, the worst street disturbances in Lebanon in a year.
The nation has been embroiled in a deep political and security crisis since the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri in February 2005. The backlash against his killing resulted in Syria withdrawing its forces from its tiny neighbour after a presence of nearly 30 years.
Sunday's violence broke out after youths protesting power cuts in the Shiite district of Shiyah entered the nearby Christian area of Ein el-Rommaneh and began throwing stones and setting cars on fire, newspaper reported.
The situation quickly escalated after a member of Amal was shot in the back. Youths turned out in several neighbourhoods, setting tyres ablaze and briefly shutting down the main road leading to the airport. Protests alo broke out in the southern coastal cities of Sidon and Tyre and in the eastern Bekaa region.
The bloodshed raised fears of civil strife in a country already grappling with its worst political crisis since the end of the civil war and with a series of assassinations mainly targeting anti-Syrian figures.
The latest attacks this month targeted a US embassy vehicle and a senior intelligence officer who died in a massive car bomb on Friday.
Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which is engaged in a power struggle with the Western-backed ruling coalition, blamed the government for Sunday's unrest.
Ali Ammar, a Hezbollah deputy, accused the army of indiscriminately firing at the protesters and said the military was being used as a pawn by the Western-backed ruling coalition.
"It is up to the army's top command to see who is trying to drag it into a situation that is against its interest," Ammar said.
Newspapers carried ominous headlines warning of civil war if the situation got out of hand.
"The demons of discord are attempting to reignite the fires of the civil war," said a headline in the French daily L'Orient-Le-Jour, which is close to the ruling coalition.
Al-Diyar newspaper, which is close to the opposition, said Sunday's clashes harked back to the dark days of the civil war as they began in the Mar Mikhael area of south Beirut, near the site of the massacre of Palestinians that triggered the war.
The violence took place as Arab League foreign ministers concluded a meeting to try to press feuding Lebanese politicians to elect a new president to fill a post that has been vacant since November 24.
The ministers urged Lebanese lawmakers to elect army chief Michel Sleiman at a parliament session scheduled for February 11 after numerous delays.
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