Clashes, tear gas, protest camp set on fire as demonstrations get violent in Beirut, Lebanon (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Crowds have taken to the streets of Beirut in a massive protest against Lebanon’s soaring debt, which stands at about $87 billion, equal to more than 150 percent of GDP. The public unrest is also fueled by an almost three-months-long power vacuum and by a crippling economic crisis.

The rallies, held under the slogan “We will not pay the price,” soon descended into violence, as crowds of protesters sought to break through police cordons around the parliament, prompting officers to use tear gas.

The protesters pelted police with stones and firecrackers. Others removed street signs and metal barriers, and hurled them at officers. Police responded with water cannons. Clouds of tear gas also soon filled the streets in the city center, scene of some of the most intense standoffs between the demonstrators and the law enforcement.

At least 75 people were injured in the Beirut clashes, the Lebanese Red Cross/Red Crescent has told AP, adding that 30 of them were hospitalized while the rest were treated in situ. The demonstrators blocked several roads leading to the city center.

At some point, a tent camp, erected by the protesters in one of Beirut’s central districts months ago, caught on fire. The flames quickly engulfed dozens of tents leading to a major blaze right in the city center.

Some people on Twitter suggested security forces might have set the tents on fire to stop a crowd from marching on parliament. However, the exact cause of the blaze still remains unclear and there have been no official comments on this matter.

Massive protests have repeatedly been gripping Beirut and other Lebanese cities for months, despite Lebanese PM Saad Hariri’s resignation in October. No government has been formed ever since, as political parties continue to argue over its composition. The protesters, which had accused Hariri of corruption, demand that all posts in the new government are assumed solely by independent technocrats.

The public anger is not directed only against the government: lately, protesters have blocked major highways and vandalized some bank offices as they began the so-called “week of wrath.”

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