hello. ok, thank you very much for joining us. it is now approaching $1200.00 g m t. you're watching al jazeera that bring you up to speed with the main story that we've been following here today for the last few hours. clashes, raging 11, and these are, these are the live pictures coming to us from bay root. the worst street violence we seen in years, the casualty toll not looking good. so far, 6 confirmed dead. 2 dozen people wounded lebanon's minister of the interior by molo, a says the 6 people killed during the protest was shot in the head. the real threat lies in the use of weapons and those who have targeted peaceful demonstrators. there were peaceful demonstrations everywhere during the past 2 years, but we have not seen such an attack against them. and speaks now to hobby bought

off, an independent journalist and founder of the bay roots were pulled good to have you with us. so bring us up to speed with seeing now pictures in the live pictures we're seeing. first of all, it looks like the army is now on the move. and we haven't heard any gun far for what, maybe the last 10 minutes or so. is this a sign of something having changed to perhaps, and agreement to quell this now being reached? you know, it's a war zone down there. so it's, it's really hard to tell what's happening. there was a cessation of going to fire about an hour ago, and then it started up again suddenly. so people on the ground, even journalists that are on the ground, the scene, are not able to tell me what's going on because it's just kind of suddenly this, you know, this 32 or 3 buildings are being targeted massively. in the armies downstairs

parked in the streets several, you know, arm personnel carriers and tank like vehicles. but they seem to be kind of standing by. we don't know what's going on behind the scenes. we don't know if there are negotiations. if the military is trying to get into the building who is still in the building, we've seen civilians leaving the buildings. it's a very chaotic scene and it's very hard for us or anyone really to know what's going on down there. have we had any reports of this happening anywhere else in beirut, whole lebanon? or is this simply a very isolated it, although very intense incident that's going on in the country? it seems relatively limited to the area around to tell you in a round about which is a kind of a fault line between different neighborhoods and has been historically. so since the old civil war days. so and there have been other classes around and there are

this area in the past. there have been flashes and other parts of the country, definitely, but not today. so it depends on how far you go back, but definitely this country has been and continues to wrestle with the demons of the war. the war is really in many ways, not over any sense in lebanon. and as much as people try to say that lebanon should be fine and peaceful and doing a good job, but at the economy, we can see that on the grounds of the country is deeply divided. and there are weapons on many sides of the country. and it's often unclear who shooting at who and explain so via is just breaking down in simple terms. why the issue of whether or not a judge phase in the post is c as a part of a big issue of how much power a faction has loses. well, i mean, i think that justice has always been very difficult and level on because because

the courts are going to be inherently connected to the politics of little situation happening the country. now, there was a lot of enthusiasm and sometimes you know, skepticism of this, of this investigation of the board. there been, several judges have come and gone. and just like the, how did he fascination investigation there was many changes of judges. so you know, it's, it's very difficult. i mean, i think if we look at in major industrial disasters and explosions, that happens in all over the world, we don't often see, you know, top level president and ministers being advocated with the head of the port and major figures in the port of a room being arrested, people will assume and i will ask and will doubt why ministers with different portfolios are being held accountable for this. some people will say that it is you know, it is some kind of a witch hunt. again, has bala, eric bala, frequently has the accusation feels that the chord or targeting its minister is

more than other ministers. and then you'll have to go on the other side saying that the, the court is, is doing its job and personally justice and, and that has bala and its allies have a lot to lose amens that trying to obstruct the courts. but it's not just as bullet by the way you had actually refused to comply with the court. steven ministers on the anti hezbollah side, who were of such as not much knew who was very close to had 80 pro western coalition was also recently rejected. participating in the court. so, you know, i think this high level ministers from both sides of the political, divine lebanon, have refused to cooperate with the court. although it may be some to make the case that more ministers from the v. we can pro, has well as i have been focused on and people will say that because they are currently in the government. but these are also passed ministers who have been ministers of finance for example, and transport. so not, not intimately responsible for the day dealings of the port of bate road. so people

will say this, this, you know, any, any court in lebanon can be used to settle political scores. and, and many have, you know, just accused hezbollah, with little evidence that they were behind the exposure the boilers. have said, the porter question was an accident that happened. and industrial style acton has happened all over the world. there's ammonium nitrate explosions, all over the world. there's been a 50 in the last century. that's one every 2 years. almost. so you know, it's very foggy. where, where the truth lies. is it, is it an industrial accident, or is it, is it being used as a cover as it is, is the mystery around it being used to manipulate people and to target certain sides. so there is always a lot of question marks about court cases and justice and lebanon. i think all parties will agree, the justice lebanon is a reflection of the country itself. that is very deeply divided and it is very deeply divided it, sorry deeply frank should 11 does always hearing anything. there's no lack of

factional leaders in this country. only hearing anything from them when we're witnessing one of the worst bouts of violence in years in beirut on it. yes, well, you know, we've had many bouts of violence, many shoot out. so someone and other cities like tripoli, don't to report as much as in bay ruge and you know, but in the middle of the city center it gets a lot more attention. definitely. we haven't seen a lot of reactions so far. we've seen the government come out and say that the protest was initially peaceful and then at some point snipers started shooting at people. we've heard reporters say that there were number of snipers on rooftops. we've, you know, so, so there's, it's not clear. some have said, i thought of somebody on the scene was that you saw a lot of young men gathering a on different sides of this, of this fall line. i'm so there could be, you know, applications you know, a driving people to be more violent in the future. so,

you know, there hasn't been a lot of, it's kind of a really like shocking situation because it's a little beta that it's shocking and it's not shocking. i mean, we saw an interview with school students, a teacher actually, principal of a school saying that, so you know, we're used to this life, but we grew up in the war weren't born yesterday. and so, you know, the war really lives on and people's traumas and their hearts in their minds and in the political fabric. you know, there's no way that, that, that kind of thing that happened and has happened in this country repeatedly, even since the war ended there been many other flareups and, you know, wars with israel and, ah, airstrikes and whatnot. so, i mean, the country were really never gets arrest, and i think, you know, people and lebanon really feel like they don't get a break. i mean, they've been through so much since support explosion. and before that would the complete a crash of the country's currency. people prices have, you know, quadrupled and, and then some top place has gone up 10 times. people's salaries are worth nothing. they can't get money out of the banks. the countries in debt,

there's no electricity. i'm talking to you right now and batteries. i'm lucky to have batteries to speak to you. so we can know it. on the other hand, we can analyze the call that much we want, but we should ask more. why does the average person love on deserve to live this way? you know, and i think often people love it on our scene as stooges are hostages. you know, but they're just normal people. i mean, and, you know, people that wake up in the morning in the west and other countries might not have this kind of reality to deal with. so, you know, it's not really somebody's fault for living here. and, and inheriting all of this constant layers and layers of, of conflict and, you know, it's not just lebanese that are fighting, we've seen, you know, the big world powers are also involved in this, you know, they have been trying to, you know, put sanction groups seem sanctions from the western countries, you know, on certain lebanese leaders of certain factions, again, not really being equal opportunity offenders when it comes to, you know, fighting and justice. you know,

they have been really to targeting certain anti western figures. so, there is this constance connection between lebanon and the rest of the world. things that happen to love and don't state, and love it on. they are often a part of a bigger geopolitical fight over who will determine, you know, who's in charge. and no one's really in charge in lebanon. that's one of the main problems in lebanon, is that we can see the army today, for example, the army is down there and, but the shooting continues. i'm going to need has continued unabated for several hours now. massive ball leaves of gunshot fire and there's been r, p g 's being launch and the army is just kind of not really jumping in there. and that gives you a good indication of the situation. we live in a level where, you know, even the military doesn't really have the final say and what happens in the ground in this country. that's the central problem for this country. center ball for this country's economy as well. you don't have stability in the country. you know, how are you ever going to rescue economy and who would want to invest in the country? that's always been shut up. i've been good talking to thank you very much for

coming, sharing your time and insight with us. appreciate it. thank you back now, the streets of bay. ruth, can see the live pictures coming in. we also have a hold of, she's live for us down the street. susanna bring us up to speed with what's happening there. saw a short while ago. tanks moving all apc's moving. has there been a change on the streets there? yet? half an hour ago, this was a battle ground, a war zone now it's quiet. the guns have fallen silence. the lebanese army has moved into neighborhoods on both sides of the divide. this was the battle ground, the dividing line between 2 neighborhoods between the strongholds of 2 opposing political parties, long time enemies,

confrontations that lasted for 4 hours that left 6 people dead and scores wounded. some of the dead civilians. a woman who was in her home, killed by a stray bullet, civilians were really caught up in this confrontation, one of the most serious confrontations in lebanon in recent years. really. and this is a country which has been about the violence over recent years linked to a political conflict which usually takes on sectarian colors, which usually has a sectarian nature because these 2 neighborhoods, these 2 strongholds, one belongs to the she political groups. amazon has the law and the other, the christian lebanese forces. how did this all start it? according to the authority is a sniper opened fire at protestors who were on their way to the justice palace for

a demonstration against the judge. judge thought bit todd, who is leading the investigation into the babe ruth port explosion last year that investigation. the judge's role really heightened pensions, pensions that caused this really dangerous escalation. the city was emptied, people ran to their homes. people quickly drove to schools to pick up their kids. people were trapped in these neighborhoods. as you can see, it was a battle ground. they didn't just use guns, rocket propelled grenades, there were a series of loud explosions that we heard while we were here. rocket propelled grenades, explosions, gun battles that raged in these neighborhoods. 6 people killed a dangerous escalation. there seems to be an undeclared truce. at least this is what appears because we are now able to walk in the streets,

which just half an hour ago was a war zone. i know go area where you would be killed by sniper fire or gun fire zayna. what often happens in these kinds of situations throughout lebanon's history, the army move in, they start to move in and take over some of the flash points, and we see better always apprehend armed militia people. you see those on militia, people simply disappear or melt away. and beyond me take kind of the, the open posture, is that what's happening as far and i know it's very difficult to tell me where you are, but any indication of is that the process that's beginning because if it is, that might be some good news. well, it seems, and it has been the case. it's not new in lebanon,

where you have these bouts of violence, an undeclared truth, and then everything goes back to normal. there's little reconciliation. there's little accountability, the lebanese army is not the state and the lebanese army is not stronger than these political parties who have been governing these country the country for decades. these political parties and their leaders were once war lords during the civil war . war lords turned politicians, b are stronger than the state. their men are heavily armed and they have at least hezbollah is believed to be stronger than the lebanese army. so you have a very weak state and a lebanese army that has to tread carefully. it has to be seen as not taking any sides because the makeup of the lebanese army, the sectarian makeup mirrors the makeup of the population in this country. so if they were seen to take aside in this conflict, some of these soldiers, me,

defect and it happened that happened during the civil war. so the political divide is deep, the sectarian divide is deep and there is a crisis. there is a real crisis in this country where the judge, the judge has role has caused so much division that not it then only escalate this dangerous escalation in the street. but also there is that there's a political, a political crisis. there's a new political crisis in this country. the government is paralyzed. amazon has believed she are parties who want this judge removed because they say that he's politicized than that he has to thing, or selecting a certain officials to question. i want him removed and they've raised the stakes. they've even warned of civil strife if that judge remains in his job. but there are those who support judge better. even one of us milan alliance and that's the president, the president says, give him a chance. let's see where he takes this investigation until the end,

and then we will see whether or not he is politicized. so this has really exacerbated the political divisions here, even creating a crock within the ruling alliance. the message was very clear on the security situation could deteriorate. the security of the city is asked to speak because of this crisis, but so far it seems. dutch baton is moving ahead with this investigation. the police we don't have any indication otherwise. now whether or not this undeclared truth is the result of a back door deal that's still unclear and that will, it will be clear in the coming hours in the coming days on what stopped this confrontation, this 4 hours of confrontation that turned parts of the lebanese capital into a war zone that killed at least 6 people that injured so many that terrified the citizens of this, of the city who are already really under

a deep economic crisis. many of them are you able to put food on their tables because of a corrupt political class. they blame for running the economy into the, into the ground, decades of corruption and mismanagement, and, and misusing public funds. so this is lebanon. you can wake up the next day as if nothing happens, but they don't resolve the core issue. and the core issues are, this is not a country, a piece. the people of this country are not at peace. there is a deep divide and it is a dangerous deep divide because politicians are able to exploit it. exploit the sectarian differences in this country to tell one group that the other group we are protecting you from them and they are here to hurt you. this is the narrative you here time sam again, from lebanese politicians who try their best to maintain support among their constituents. so the guns have fallen silent. after 4 hours of confrontation,

gun battle that raged in neighborhoods in residential areas where people were trapped for hours. just looking at the picture day and now it does look like things have changed a bit on the streets. people are standing around the golf fire trucks and emergency crews look like they're moving in as well as civil defense trot. there is that they want to jump the gun, but is there reason to hope, at least if not believe that this might be the end of this chapter of it? well, it may be the end of this rounds of confrontation. but the problem is still there. we still do not know what sort of an agreement was reached behind the scenes. was there outside pressure from the international community? the international community really has had their eyes on lebanon for some time now

. and yesterday, the european union, the united states, the u. s. faith department is showing statements calling on the lebanese authorities that they have to continue with this investigation that the investigation needs to be transparent and that the judiciary or the judges should not be intimidated. and this country is in dire need of hard currency, hard currency that they can only get from the international community. so we still cannot say what silence the gun suddenly, after 4 hours of fierce gun battles. but in the hours and the days to come, it will be clear if there is a deal, whether or not judge todd at the time will be able to continue with investigation. whether or not he will be dismissed. for the sake of national unity, that's statement, we hear time and time again in lebanon, that politicians use the need for a compromise to maintain national unity. the need for a compromise to ensure that the security that security prevails and there will be

no civil strife. it's hard to say at this point in time, but this just gives you an example of a state that many now called a failed state, a country that that is really a battle ground. that is used not just by politicians, but there are outside backers. if and when the need arises, people are tired. we've been speaking to people all day. there were terrorized, they did not know what to do. they were worried about what happens next. and they're there and they just say we can't keep on doing this. this is all we've seen . remember the journalist we bumped into earlier, today's family, what did he say? i've seen this scene time and time again since i was born. so people in some ways are used to this, but people are tired. and as you can see, you can see the damage the, the glass, this was fierce gun battles. we heard them,

we heard them throughout the day. the intense gunfire, so much has been damaged here. now we are walking into one of the neighborhoods. this is sir, cheer. this is the stronghold of amazon has bella and her people are now out on the streets. clearly, people are confident that that this is over and under to just to clarify, emma your now in a sheer neighbourhood that say, predominantly shame, neighbourhood in lebanon, that scene is a strong hold for the am and movement, right? that's where you are now where we're seeing these scenes. it looks like that neighborhood also has taken a beating, judging by them. seems from glass being blown out of car windows. yes sammy, yes, sammy, you can see this is sheila, this is one of the neighborhoods involved and this latest

confrontation you can you let me see if we can talk to anybody here to see what they feel. i mean after all this, what guarantee is there? that there, there will not be any more violence. coastal assess your thought, people don't know what that is, the time that they don't know what happened on the lebanese are used to this interesting, and we appreciate you being those. and if you're able to simply ask people once when, how one of they've been seeing in the last few hours. okay, let me see, some of these are officials, micah, but i have a kid going to be at the fact was that luck. and now what about these are officials from the amman movement? oh yeah, we have to wait. the man is on the phone will be about that. what

a little bit about. yeah. okay. so we are told to move back on the situation is still pending. um, as you can see, who is on the ground, who has the authority on the ground, like we've been saying, the state is so weak that its political parties really, that control security and these neighborhoods. who, who can ask you and tell you where you should stand or where you should report from zayna? is it easy just for products, maybe an average citizen moved to california to tell want from the plain clothes, officials of sectarian fashion? or is it possible just to our civilians what they've been seen going on today was, were on people firing from their neighborhood into their neighborhood. you know, just give us a feel for what the average citizen the today yes, we will try to talk to people. some of them do not want to do not want to talk in haunting them and why?

no, he's not from here. i, he's a, he's a journalist. okay. well let's, let's see. let's walk down the people from here. people will not be on my car. i can find who doesn't want to speak. okay. no no. what happens with our can one more. okay. that okay. sammy, some of these areas are under the control of parties. people do not at times, right? speak as freely as much as they want. let's cross the street and thank you for bringing that to us. i think it'll help you understand what's going on there and how difficult it is to get

a picture. if nobody wants to talk to yes, i mean, it's a, it's a, it's a deeply divided society. it's that there is no national unity or national reconciliation. i visited about it that the guns may have fallen silent, but there are still no peace. i want to see if these little these children can to hon. she and thought came to home. no, they weren't. here, children were terrorized. we saw many people trying to escape the area gentlemen horn she in implement on that. jumped on. okay. so they're not from here and they're on they're going for a walk. you eat, it's not is, this is clearly everybody you stop suddenly is not from the neighborhood. and doesn't know anything. yeah, i think that that says it all. all right, thank. so i'd say, and i think we're gonna, we're gonna thank you,

give you an opportunity to do some news gathering for us. you doing a brilliant job for us. maybe. oh, beg your pardon? i actually change of plans. i know we like your work so much. we're gonna keep this going for a little bit. so yeah, maybe you know, what does this ultimately mean for the lebanese, if we talk about the average lebanese citizen today, they just woke up with one extra headache, security headache on top of everything else, the lack of fuel, electricity, water, and so on. and so forthright to multiple crises facing, facing this country estate that's nearly bankrupt, a currency that has lost 9090 percent of its value. and in the past 2 years, inflation, 80 percent of the population poor struggling to put food on the table. unemployment is on the right, as many people are packing their bags and leaving, looking for economic opportunities elsewhere. and after this,

after these things today, which were really reminiscent of the civil war, a lot of people will, you know, who were thinking and whether reluctant to leave will now decide to leave. i know a lot of people have been talking to and they say, you know, we just want to leave and that was before that the scenes. this is why some people believe the tension over a judge, the tar is much more. then this is not just about the man, it's not just about the judge. it is about the country. and when you talk to people who support the tar, they said it's not about him. it's about the rule of law. it's about allowing a legal process to take its course. it's about allowing an investigation to happen because it wasn't just the explosion or played with court over the years. there have been political assassinations. there's never been a trial. there has never been. in fact, there's never been an investigation. so people feel that this time around that should change. a city was blown up. more than 200 people were killed. people

deserve to know the truth. they need to know. oh, yeah, a fatal court for so many years. play the claim, obama. they want to know which i did nothing about. they were warned. they were told that these materials were dangerous, that they were highly flammable. you should do something about it and they did not . so people want answers, they want closure, they want their wounds to heal. that is what mothers fathers, brothers sisters have been telling us, this is why we are standing behind the tar. and we believe that he has stood against the political establishment and the security establishment which is refusing to cooperate if the establishment is not involved in this, then why are they afraid of answering questions? one of the persons that judge bizarre summons was the caretaker or the former, a prime minister has sent yet. he didn't show up for questioning him. he traveled

to the united states. he's now back in beirut. he arrived last night. now according to his bala and i'm a why is he only going after one prime minister when there were successive prime ministers in power? while the ammonium nitrate was in that warehouse? now those who support the baton will say true, but better has the report that was presented to her sam tube give to him and telling him you must do something about this explicit material and yet was going to go to the port than to lie a month before that block, but he was, he was somebody called him and told him, do not go. so what baton wants to know is who called him, who called and told you a son did not to go to the court. and that question has not been answered. so there is, there's a feeling among lebanese that this culture of impunity has to and so that is what's for them. at least this is what bit are stands for. now, for the other side has been a month. they believe that judge baton is politic.