{"id":211710,"date":"2020-08-09T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2020-08-09T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=211710"},"modified":"2020-08-11T06:11:05","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T06:11:05","slug":"lebanese-people-have-suffered-too-much-us-encourages-peaceful-regime-change-as-protests-rage-in-blast-ravaged-beirut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=211710","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Lebanese people have suffered too much\u2019: US encourages \u2018peaceful\u2019 regime change as protests rage in blast-ravaged Beirut"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>RT \u2013 Aug 8, 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-211627\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Beirut-Blast-site-aftermath-768x432.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Beirut-Blast-site-aftermath-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Beirut-Blast-site-aftermath-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Beirut-Blast-site-aftermath.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The US Embassy has expressed its solidarity with anti-government protesters in Lebanon, urging all sides to \u201crefrain from violence,\u201d after clashes in blast-devastated Beirut left around 500 people injured.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Thousands of people gathered in Beirut on Saturday, demanding the government resign over corruption and negligence, which they believe led to the horrific explosion this week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Amid clashes with riot police, protesters stormed several government buildings and attempted to reach the Parliament. Several military units were eventually deployed to help riot police restore order, forcing the US Embassy in Beirut to wade into the crisis, voicing its support for the citizens\u2019 <em>\u201cright to peaceful protest.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\"><em><strong>The Lebanese people have suffered too much and deserve to have leaders who listen to them and change course to respond to popular demands for transparency and accountability.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">1\/2 The Lebanese people have suffered too much and deserve to have leaders who listen to them and change course to respond to popular demands for transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; U.S. Embassy Beirut (@usembassybeirut) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/usembassybeirut\/status\/1292159182322446336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 8, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">Washington also encouraged <em>\u201call involved to refrain from violence,\u201d<\/em> as the number of injuries climbed to at least 490, according to the emergency medical services cited by\u00a0Al-Manar TV. Meanwhile, authorities said 70 security officers were injured and at least one\u00a0them died in clashes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">While protests over the dire economic conditions in Lebanon have been frequent, the Beirut tragedy has reinvigorated the anti-government drive. Many blame the negligence of the authorities for the massive ammonium nitrate explosion on Tuesday that killed more than 150 people and sent several thousand to the hospital with various injuries from the devastating shockwave.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">The incident triggered a massive international humanitarian response, with Washington joining the EU, Russia and many other states in pledging\u00a0emergency assistance and support.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">However, as a US Air Force transport plane delivered the first batch of aid, <a style=\"color: #ccffff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usaid.gov\/news-information\/press-releases\/aug-7-2020-united-states-provides-humanitarian-assistance-response-explosions-lebanon\">USAID<\/a>\u00a0also made sure to\u00a0emphasise\u00a0that the <em>\u201cUnited States has long supported the Lebanese people&#8217;s pursuit of economic prosperity and accountable governance, free of corruption and foreign pressure.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"und\" dir=\"rtl\">\u0623\u0639\u0644\u0646\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0648\u0644\u0627\u064a\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0645\u062a\u062d\u062f\u0629 \u0639\u0646 \u0645\u0633\u0627\u0639\u062f\u0627\u062a \u0637\u0627\u0631\u0626\u0629 \u0628\u0642\u064a\u0645\u0629 17 \u0645\u0644\u064a\u0648\u0646 \u062f\u0648\u0644\u0627\u0631 \u0644\u0645\u0633\u0627\u0639\u062f\u0629 \u0644\u0628\u0646\u0627\u0646 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u062a\u062e\u0637\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0623\u0633\u0627\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0631\u0648\u0639\u0629.<br \/>The U.S. has already pledged $17 million in emergency aid to assist Lebanon in responding to the horrific tragedy on August 4.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/InThisTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#InThisTogether<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/USAFCENT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@USAFCENT<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CENTCOM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@CENTCOM<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LebarmyOfficial?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LebarmyOfficial<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Avrytvgbgk\">pic.twitter.com\/Avrytvgbgk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; U.S. Embassy Beirut (@usembassybeirut) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/usembassybeirut\/status\/1291663419662270464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 7, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ccffff;\">As a large part of the city lies in ruins, with many victims still feared trapped under the rubble, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab addressed the nation saying that he was going to request an early parliamentary election, to quell the violence amid the emergency situation further exacerbated by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/usa\/497490-lebanon-us-embassy-peaceful-protest\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We were expecting this. We heard similar expressions of support from U.S. officials in Libya and later in Syria, and we know what happened there <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[72,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ClimateGate","category-Commentary"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=211710"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211713,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211710\/revisions\/211713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=211710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=211710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=211710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}