Macron pledges help for Beirut as Lebanese rage against rulers
French President Emmanuel Macron tours parts of Beirut devastated by Tuesday’s deadly blasts. © AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron visited shell-shocked Beirut on Thursday, pledging support and urging change after a massive explosion devastated the Lebanese capital in a disaster that has sparked grief and fury. Follow the day’s events as they unfolded on our liveblog.
Macron was the first foreign head of state to make the trip after two explosions rocked Beirut on Tuesday, killing scores, injuring thousands and inflicting billions of euros in damage.
The French leader pledged the support of Lebanon‘s former colonial power and urged reform, telling crowds that he was not planning to write a blank cheque to the country’s discredited regime.
Macron said he would organise an international donor conference to help crisis-wracked Lebanon, adding that French aid would go “directly to the people”.
Lebanon’s state news agency said 16 port staffers have been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into the devastating blasts that killed at least 145 people and injured thousands more.
-
Macron visited Beirut’s harbourside blast zone, now a wasteland of blackened ruins, rubble and charred debris where a 140 metre (460 feet) wide crater has filled with sea water.
Later, as he toured one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, an angry crowd vented its fury at Lebanon’s political leaders, chanting “Revolution” and “The people want to bring down the regime,” slogans used during mass protests last year.
Macron said he was not there to endorse the “regime” and vowed that French aid would not fall into the “hands of corruption”.
“I will talk to all political forces to ask them for a new pact. I am here today to propose a new political pact to them,” he said, after being greeted by crowds.
Source:france24.com