well we are standing on the doorstep of martyrs square as you can see behind me the ambulances are still gushing in and out of martyrs square according to the lebanese red cross there are at least 152 protesters who have been injured up until this hour many of whom were transferred to nearby hospitals now these demonstrators were flocking to martyrs square also to the lebanese parliament to express their dismay over the poor over what they say is poor handling of the lebanese government of the aftermath of tuesday's explosion which targeted the beirut sports also they say they have arisen or they are raising the slogan. ahead of the gallows or raise the gallows they are saying that they have brought with them cut all towards of the 'd lobbyist political figures each of them and they are tying each of these cops out of the lords to the gallows as i said they're more ambulances i think the demonstrators are have or have taken a very violent turn we are also hearing a lot of shots being fired in the air in addition to that there gas also we are seeing that there are there is some smoke bill

we went to martyrs square to sort of gallows for those who did this to our country today will hang users and we won't lead a single government ministers. a police officer was reportedly killed in the clashes on saturday and more than 700 people were injured according to local emergency services some demonstrators reportedly tried to break through a barrier blocking extremes leading to parliament a number of arrests were made. tragedy struck at around 6 pm on tuesday when a massive blasts hit the beirut port area 150 deaths have been confirmed but with dozens still missing it's fear the number will rise the city's health system has been overwhelmed by the disaster numerous city buildings have been damaged and thousands of locals have been left homeless. you know all of a sudden we found everything turned over our hands and i turned around and i was here by something in my right hand people screaming kids screaming but if i saw it and i saw today. the devastation here in the lebanese capital is very massive the blast was felt at 10 kilometers away from the port where it took place i believ

we went to martyr square to sort of gallows for those who did this to our country today will hang news of this and we will lead a single government ministers keep. the police stuff far and take asked us in mosques square and the iraqis will so time simply fled. brutal scenes helping witnessed in the lebanese capital demonstrators threw rocks projectiles out police officers who responded in turn with tear gas security forces reportedly used live ammunition to force people. i was cranky. i. think the demonstrators also put up mock gallows in a location where people were hung more than 100 years ago under the ottoman empire activists raise cardboard cutouts with ropes around their necks depicting lebanon's prime minister and leader of hezbollah along with other top officials in response to the surge in civil unrest prime minister has called some hours ago for an early election he stated that corruption was to blame for choose these tragedy. we are in a state of emergency and not only because of this catastrophe and the need to deal with it in these circumstances i'd like all political par

we went to martyr square to set up gallows for those who did this to our country today will hang nooses and we won't lead a single government ministers. the police started firing tear gas at us on march the square and the rices also attacked us and we fled. or to see what is john of is in beirut with the latest. while the smoke still hasn't cleared from the streets of beirut and everything that you can see around me well it hasn't been caused by the bluster but brought the by today's protests we are in a narrow area which has seen some of the heaviest clashes between the police the army and well the riot says it is in fact not far from the port where the bloss had happened but this was not caused by the blast this was caused by all the protests and by people being unhappy lots of dumpsters just over town set on fire i mean by the time we got here there was much more smoke much more fire as going on let's just see it just to have a look here this is not again this is not damage excuse me this is not damage from the blogs this is all from today's protests and what people unhappy about leb

we went to martyr square to set up gallows for those who did this to our country today will hang news of this and we won't let a single government ministers keep. the police starts firing tear gas at us on mosques square and the iraqis will so it's so so we fled artie's ego has done office in beirut with the latest. well the smoke still hasn't cleared from the streets of beirut and everything that you can see around me well it hasn't been caused by the blast but rather by today's protests we are in an area which has seen some of the heaviest clashes between the police the army and well the riot says it is in fact not far from the port where the bloss had happened but this was not caused by the blast this was caused by all the protests and by people being unhappy lots of dumpsters just overturned set on fire i mean by the time we got here there was much more smoke much more fires going on let's just see just have a look here this is not again this is not damage excuse me this is not damage from the blogs this is a from today's protests and what people are unhappy about lebanon has been

we went to martyr square to set up gallows for those who did this to our country today will hang news's and we won't lead a single government ministers. the police started firing tear gas at us on monster square and the rice is also tied to us and we fled. artie's he goes donovan is in beirut with the latest force. well the smoke still hasn't cleared from the streets of beirut and everything that you can see around me well it hasn't been caused by the blast but rather by today's protests we are in an area which has seen some of the heaviest clashes between the police the army and well the riotous it is in fact not far from the port where the bloss had happened but this was not caused by the blast this was caused by all the protests and by people being unhappy lots of dumpsters just overturned set on fire i mean by the time we got here there was much more smoke much more fires going on let's just see just have a look here this is not again this is not damage excuse me this is not damage from the blogs this is a from today's protests and what people unhappy about lebanon has been battered

we went to martyr square to sort of gallows for those who did this to our country. music's lead a single government minister. one police officer was reportedly killed in the clashes and a large number of people were injured over 700 some demonstrators are currently trying to break through a barrier blocking a street leading to parliament a number of arrests were made protesters were demanding the removal of the country's political elite. civil unrest has intensified following the massive blast in the port area of beirut on tuesday the tragedy has claimed lives of at least 158 people with thousands left injured the city's health system has been overwhelmed by the disaster numerous city buildings have been damage with hundreds of thousands of locals now homeless is a recap of the week that shook lebanon. you know all of a sudden we felt a boom everything turned over our hands i turned around and i was he by something in my right hand people screaming kids screaming but it was a choice and i should see. the devastation here in the lebanese capital is very massive the b

we went to martyrs square sort of gallows for those who did this country. music. plan a single government minister. a police officer was reportedly killed in the clashes and a large number of people injured more than 700 a number of arrests have been made. civil unrest has intensified following the massive blast in the port area of beirut the tragedy has claimed the lives of at least 158 people thousands others injured the city's health system has been overwhelmed by the disaster numerous city buildings were damaged with hundreds of thousands of locals now homeless is a recap of the week that shook lebanon. 'd all of a sudden we felt a boom everything turned over our hands but i turned around and i was he put something in my right hand if the stream. could stevie but if i saw it and i still could see. the devastation here in the lebanese capital is very much the blast that was felt at 10 kilometers away from the border where it took place i believe this is going to be a sleepless night for the lebanese and a very sad 9. 11 is army and fire fighters have been still

that is our headline story is this something that just before you go i want to show you martyr square in beirut's lebanese capital i want is happening there right no longer against the government following choose the deadly explosion has broken out in mass protests in the center of the city this is at life footage from the capital all the details when we return at the top of the hour this is partly international .

trey yngst in martyr square. good evening, trey.trey: leland, good afternoon, clashes erupting in beirut as demonstrators are calling for top-level officials to resign. they want answers to that explosion last tuesday that lost more than 150 people dead. you can see behind me clashes unfolding and raveling very quickly. demonstrators are throwing stones and fireworks to security forces. some of the forces are associated with the lebanese militant group hezbollah. that's only angering the protestors who are upset that hezbollah has become a part of their government. they say even the prime minister himself does not have control. today he was described to me as a puppet. they want to see accountability for that blast and just under a mile from where we are standing near martyr square, there are rescue teams from around the world searching through the rubble. the governor of beirut say that more than 100 people are still missing and the death toll continues to up and you have people yelling across the city right now, many of them young

your popularity has gone through the floor over the past 4 days and would you today go down to martyr square right now after we finish this conversation and stand in front of the newly built hangman's noose that the protesters have put up and say my name's elias hank i want to be a politician again let's talk about the issues because can i suggest to you that that conversation may go completely the wrong way today. there are there is there is. this tree and as i told you before before the explosion also we had that inclusion that didn't use to receive any politician however elegantly or both. movements in that field. today we just bury our general. who has been one of them are. due to this explosion yesterday we did betty another comrade who 727 years old and before yesterday were also buried so we have 3 victims and tomorrow is the 4th actually. what i'm trying to tell you is that we we are. our people are in the streets our part is in our streets our streets and we should be calling and we among most of the civil society groups that called for this. money to station today we are part of it

able to cope with this disaster just look behind me the desperation among people they've come to martyr's square just to to get any help that they can receive from volunteers from n.g.o.s from civil society groups the government is absent the government is cash strapped so you can see walters' sandwiches people have lost so much 200000 people were made homeless by this blast and calls for a government resignation are growing louder now the optics may look good if the government indeed does resign i mean this is the demand of the people they've been demanding this for some time now even before the blast but many believe that behind the scenes a political deal is in the making especially after the visit of the french president to beirut he did talk about a political initiative and the french president was not just speaking on behalf of france he came here on behalf of the international community so it seems behind the scenes there are negotiations possibly to form a what is known in lebanon as a national unity government what that means political parties from across the political spectrum come tog

defiance that has been the response as you can see behind me people have not left martyrs square they conferred steere earlier today in the hope of raising their voices they want to demand justice and revenge for the victims of tuesday's blast what is happening now is running battles in central beirut as some of the anti-establishment protesters try to storm the parliament building the lebanese army is calling on the protesters to stay peaceful saying that they will not allow them to destroy public or private property the internal security forces also issuing a statement saying that we understand the anger of the people but stay peaceful but for people here they tell you enough is enough the army cannot continue to support and protect a political class that has bankrupted us the country and starved us and now killed us those are the words we're hearing starved us killed us bankrupted us this is a country where 50 percent of the people live below the poverty line you can see that the final people are chanting revolution revolution we've seen things like this before over the past few mo

we went to martyr square to set up gallows for those who did this to our country today will hang nooses and we will not lead a single government ministers. the police started firing tear gas at us on monster square and the rice is also tied to us and we fled. or to see goes on of his in beirut with the latest. well the smoke still hasn't cleared from the streets of beirut and everything that you can see around me well it hasn't been caused by the blast but rather by today's protests we are in an area which has seen some of the heaviest clashes between the police the army and well the riot says it is in fact not far from the port where the blast had happened but this was not caused by the blast this was caused by all the protests and by people being unhappy lots of dumpsters just overturned set on fire i mean by the time we got here there was much more smoke much more fires going on let's just see just have a look here this is not again this is not damage excuse me this is not damage from the blogs this is a from today's protests and what people are unhappy about lebanon has been battere

well we are standing on the doorstep of martyrs square as you can see behind me the ambulances are still gushing in and out now these demonstrators to express their dismay over what they say is poor handling of the lebanese government of the aftermath of tuesday's and explosion. they say they are going to stay here until their demands are met also at the same time we know that in the district of a chef east of beirut protesters have managed to storm into the foreign ministry. we are coming back to the property of our people is building belongs to the people of. testers has turned up at least 4 ministry is this in addition to torching a number of buildings. that are sad that we lost the country we lost beirut we have people who didn't find it we have family members we don't know anything about people will they go back to the streets they will daily ask for the justice we need the justice made who doesn't deserve this and we would if you is what happened to us lebanon are already being going through its worst financial crisis in years inflation is soaring and almost half the population liv

go to the break let's just show you the latest live shots coming to us from adjacent to you the martyr square i suspect that's near that that's near the parliament building in beirut we've heard these reports we've seen the pictures we've got right police on the ground and squaring off against a clutch of protesters they have used to stop protestors demonstrators breaching the fences around the building to parliament building they didn't want one of them to get in there to put this in a broader political context for you we have had at least 3 resignation has already and 3 m.p.'s decided to write resign from their party. a funeral of one of their colleagues a little earlier today we're trying to establish communications with one of those people to see what what what they're trying to achieve with their resignations about 2 or 3 kilometers away from we have these mass protests gathering around moscow square as well so in a holder with reporting from there intriguingly compellingly the protesters have already built a hangman's noose multiple hangman's noose locations because they're sending a me

we went to martyr square to set up gallows for those who did this to our country today will hang news's and we won't lead a single government ministers. the police started firing tear gas at us on monster square and the rice is also attacked us and we fled. which is igor john of his in beirut with the latest. well the smoke still hasn't cleared from the streets of beirut and everything that you can see around me well it hasn't been caused by the blast but rather by today's protests we are in an area which has seen some of the heaviest clashes between the police the army and well the riotous it is in fact not far from the port where the blast had happened but this was not caused by the blast this was caused by all the protests and by people being unhappy lots of dumpsters just overturned set on fire i mean by the time we got here there was much more smoke much more fires going on let's just see just have a look here this is not again this is not damage excuse me this is not damage from the blogs this is a from today's protests and what people are unhappy about lebanon has been battered i

dozens of lebanese protestors have descended to martyrs square on saturday to demonstrate against what they say is the poor handling of the lebanese government of the aftermath of tuesday's violent explosion which ships through the lebanese capital they do with namely the port of beirut and was found at radio stuff tank kilometers the explosion had taken the lives of over 150 lebanese left over 5000 others injured 300000 homeless and act least 60 others still up until this hour missing this has led to public outrage many of the protesters who descended to might just. the slogan bring out the gallows or raise the gallows in a symbolic move to basically express their wanting to execute the political leaders who are present and the country of whom they blame for the corruption and misuse of power the lebanese prime minister has announced early elections or that he is intending to propose early elections does is obviously a move to try and absorb the public anger normally through knowledge of i will go to the council of ministers and monday to call for an early election our countries in th

america we went to martyrs square to set up gallows for those who did this to our country today will hang nooses and we won't lead a single government ministers. the police started firing tear gas at us on march the square and the right has also attacked us and we fled. across live now to our correspondent. in beirut igor it seems things are rapidly escalating this take us through what's been happening. while union to have to tell you that it has been a long time since the last time i've seen so much destruction in one city maybe last time in syria in hama holmes but now when we arrived here to beirut to look to cover the bluffs to cover the to cover what happened in the poets and we saw a lot of devastation but today has been an absolutely different sorts of sorts of havoc here because it looks like thousands of people took to the streets it seems a lot of protest has been boiling up inside of them because lebanon has been suffering from a severe economic crisis than it was crippled by covert and now people lost their homes and 300000 people displaced by the blood so it seems like t

and the ministry of environment this in addition to torching a number of buildings we were in martyrs square and any other sort and we saw that a number of buildings at least what i saw were 4 buildings they were set ablaze up by angry protesters also to see the protesters are throwing the portraits of the lebanese president michel in from building tops to the ground as other protesters that were saluting this move they were cheering on to this move also it was very evident that the lebanese security forces were doing after area and were trying to cut off all the of all the roads leading to the area preventing further protestors from the standing to marchers where there was also a very strong use of tear gas that there was a use of they were shooting live bullets in the air and an attempt to maybe frighten and disperse the protesters and as a sad. iraqi army or security. this is we're trying to cut off all the routes leading to the knees whereas to prevent further protesters from descending another point i would like to mention is that while we were there we lost our connection to the intern

able to cope with this disaster just look behind me the desperation among people they've come to martyr's square just to get any help that they can receive from volunteers from n.g.o.s from civil society groups the government is absent the government is cash strapped so you can see water sandwiches people have lost so much 300000 people were made homeless by this blast and calls for a government resignation are growing louder now the optics may look good if the government indeed does resign i mean this is the demand of the people who have been demanding this for some time now even before the blast but many believe that behind the scenes a political deal is in the making especially after the visit of the french president to beirut he did talk about a political initiative and the french president was not just speaking on behalf of france he came here on behalf of the international community so it seems behind the scenes there are negotiations possibly to form of what is known in lebanon as a national unity government what that means political parties from across the political spectrum come togethe

they construct the gallows in the middle of martyrs square demanding the execution of politicians now that's highly unlikely it's highly unlikely that they'll be able to achieve that but. for them some of them are saying the very fact that they're caught that that the fact that they put early elections on the table this possibility it is a win and a very difficult and long battle ahead. zana there our correspondent on the ground in martyr square in beirut and i thank you very much please do stay safe well let's now speak to my london he is al jazeera senior political analyst and he joins us now from london milan we had it from has not very long that early elections will that fix things absolutely not this is a growing market kicking the can down the road as it were because let's think about a whole bunch of scenarios for this election one as it were a certain here based on what's the real wall because the previous or the law this. is based on some sort of our. vision. for an age that is political. or option to do months or 3 months is not good enough for the various people on the stre

activists and protesters and not just people who were out here in martyr square but lebanese all over the country that you can spoken to what they want is a new political system but it's going to be extremely hard to get them out because the current electoral law creates eat in such a way that the political elites who run this country control who gets to sit down and mentally elections and in parliament and then when they win those elections those representatives represent a little elites and there is no way of changing that electoral law unless the parliament agrees to do it and the elites of coal control those parliamentarians i'm not going to let them do that so it's extraordinarily difficult to change the system in that middle age. many thanks i was there as part of smith reporting live from beirut police in hong kong have made their highest profile arrest yes under a controversial national security law imposed by beijing the media tycoon of activist jimmy lai has been detained with 6 others linked to his pro-democracy apple daily they're accused of colluding with foreign for

on those protesters and i've seen some ambulances leaving today it's quiet now they've cleared martyr square which is in front of me they clear the palm an area now and they have essentially wrapped up for the evening but an indication really of the stream tension and frustration that there is here in lebanon while the worse some protesters out onto the street while there were many more of us have been every day since this explosion started of volunteers thousands and thousands of young lebanese cleaning up helping giving aid filling the gaps left by the state. here where all the skills the talent and the enthusiasm this is this yeah this is the nasa that this has been issued yesterday but these people will not be able to rebuild beirut on their own we have an ingenious team and nothing team working in sync together we sense scouts on little scooters and their job is to basically go and examine a building and say hey this structure is no longer safe to enter they're doing all this because the government isn't. food is given out to people who never have to ask for handouts in their life. or v

parliament building but some of the tear gas of being is being lobbed and falling in the center of martyrs' square which seems to be the way to try to disperse the crowds and empty the square we've seen this happen before in previous months when there have been running battles and after a few hours these security forces use more tear gas the only way to force people to leave the square we are joined by rabiya isn't anti-establishment protester you get in the streets for months is today any different you came back to march to square the epicenter of the movement which began in october today there's much more anger today you're asking for justice and you're asking for revenge tell us why your home today is different today is the front because today is out of respect for all those who are mostly due to the explosion to the corruption to the sectarian regime ok i'll call for the specter out of respect to the wounded people came back with more enthusiasm as you can see this is like bombarding us with a gun as much much much more than it did in the last couple of months i wonder why because they are afr

earlier 10,000 protesters gathered in martyrs' square calling for the "fall of the regime". signs executive orders extending economic relief to americans after congress fails to agree his stimulus package. the island nation of mauritius declares a "state of environmental emergency" as more oilfrom a grounded ship washes onto its pristine shores. air crash investigators recover the flight data recorder of a plane that came down in southern india, killing at least 18 people.

that we just don't want we're seeing today calls for mass protests in the main square in beirut martyr square people are handing symbolic nooses for the politician saying resign or hang it's hard to see what the road of recovery is going to look like exactly but it's very clear that lebanon needs help from the international community the international community needs to step in there needs to be a serious conversation about reform with the people in power to make sure that this it also goes to the people that needed the most to see my that's going to happen it's very difficult because lebanon has historically been a country where regional powers really play out their rivalries right you have iran trying to counter saudi arabia through hezbollah you have you know the west involved with all kinds of things and. these interests i think have to be put aside there needs to be this needs to be a turning point because if lebanon in the current situation that it's in right now continues to be a playground for regional powers it's hard to see how this will play in the interests of the people that are

this is martyrs' square, the focal point of the anti—government demonstrations.of rage and fury that was visible on the streets last night came, of course, in the aftermath of an unprecedented disaster in this city. now people are dealing with the day after the protests themselves. people have gathered at this point and headed down here, the main street, towards the lebanese parliament. as crowds surged down here, we saw them blocked by the barricades of security forces. that's where tear gas and rubber bullets were fired at them. there were then some running battles and protesters throwing firecrackers and stones at the anti—riot squads. you can see this truck was completely torched as the authorities tried to block the street. it's still smouldering this morning. so, what happens next? the protesters themselves, some of them calling for more demonstrations today. it's not clear, the degree to which they will be heeded. things began to fade away late last night. it hasn't gained the momentum that perhaps some of the organisers would have hoped. at the same time,

. >> reporter: but in martyr square, protesters now include former lebanese commando leader, colonelwants to see the old guard swept away entirely. >> change is coming, and i commend they leave peacefully or we will go to their homes and do it by force. >> reporter: that night, it was the protesters who were eventually swept away, but not for long. they have plans to harness public anger over the beirut blast to a more powerful, revolutionary rage. now, john, there is going to be a vigil here to mark the timing, one week ago, where that massive detonation went off, and then a march to martyrs square. and i think it will probably move from a very somber mood into one of great anger with activists now openly promising, effectively, to try to occupy government buildings, to physically drive this administration from power. john? >> sam kiley, terrific report. thanks so much for being there for us. appreciate it. >>> "new day" continues right now. >> the numbers paint a stark picture for the back-to-school system. nearly 100,000 children tested positive for covid in the last two weeks of

marchers are making their way from the devastated harbour area to martyrs' square in the centre of the masks in england and scotland is expanded with coverings now compulsory in cinemas, museums and places of worship. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin ra mjuan. england have lost three wickets after lunch, at old trafford, as the momentum tips towards pakistan on day four of the first test. they're chasing 277 to win, with opener rory burns falling first in their second innings. out lbw, with a few words exchanged with the visiting side. england were 55—1 at lunch. then lost dom sibley, and captain joe root followed soon after. pakistan charging through england's order after lunch, ben stokes the latest to go. out for 9, to yasir shah, after initially being given not—out here. yasir with his second of the day. 116-a. a reminder coverage and commentary is on five live sports extra and the bbc sport website, where there's also in—play video highlights. on bbc two at seven o'clock tonight you can also catch highlights of the day's play. valtteri bottas

quentin sommerville was in beirut‘s martyrs‘ square for the announcement, here he is.s here in beirut‘s martyrs‘ square, but if you just look over here you can see the riot police have been deployed. they then fired tear gas to remove the protesters, who fell back and those protesters were very cynical that even getting rid of this government will make any difference to lebanon and bring accountability for that deadly explosion, which happened just a couple of blocks away from where i am in the port. quentin sommerville there — and earlier in the day, he was speaking to people who've lost everything in beirut. inch by inch, lebanon's government is coming apart. the explosion here has unleashed a new fury on the streets. even among the tear gas, these protesters can almost smell the government's downfall, but they have brought down governments before and there's been little change here. a reshuffling of the same old faces at the top will not solve lebanon's crisis. the state is out in force, in a shattered capital, carrying guns, though — not brooms. the lebanese are fa

the headlines stories this something that just before you go i want to show you martyrs square in beirut the lebanese capital i want is happening there right now the government following choose the deadly explosion has broken out in protest in the center of the city this is life footage from the capital all the details when we return at the top of the hour this is international. in august 9452 atomic bombs were dropped on the japanese cities of hiroshima and nagasaki. to this day opinion remains divided as to the real reason behind america's decision to use nuclear weapons but with no possible military justification for dropping a bomb i have no question that there were those in the u.s. military who pursued the next and so here in the planning in october of 1945 had chosen 20 targets in russia in the 70 years since the bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki countless books and films have off the many just occasions for and arguments against dropping the avons however declassified documents give weight to the arguments that the bombs were dropped not so it's a military necessity to intimidat

well we are standing on the doorstep of martyrs square as you can see behind me the ambulances are still gushing in and now these demonstrators to express their dismay over what they say is poor handling of the lebanese government of the aftermath of tuesday's a explosion. they say they are going to stay here until their demands are met also at the same time we know that in the district of east of badal protesters have managed to storm into the foreign ministry. here claim in fact the property will follow is building belongs to the people of. the testers has turned up at least one ministry is this in addition to torching a number of buildings. that are sad we lost the country we lost beirut. people. we didn't find out we have family members we don't know anything about. people will daily will back to the streets they will daily us for justice we need the justice made who doesn't deserve this and we would if you is what happened to us. let's bring you live on the program to babe ruths where r.t.c. . being covering developments the last number of hours for us now you've been in the thick o

earlier 10,000 protesters gathered in martyrs' square calling for the "fall of the regime". as the united states reaches five million coronavirus infections, president trump signs executive orders extending economic relief to americans after congress fails to agree his stimulus package. the island nation of mauritius declares a "state of environmental emergency" as more oilfrom a grounded ship washes onto its pristine shores. air crash investigators recover the flight data recorder of a plane that came down in southern india, killing at least 18 people. hello and welcome to bbc news. thousands of people have taken to the streets of the lebanese capital beirut, in anger at the country's leaders, after this week's devastating explosion in the port area of the city. groups of protestors stormed a number of official buildings — and briefly occupied the foreign ministry before being driven out by the army. earlier, riot police used tear gas to try to disperse the crowds and one police officer was killed in the clashes. 0ur middle east correspondent, quentin sommerville, spent the

these clashes started in martyr square but ended up taking place all over the city.rotesters actually taking over government buildings, ministry buildings, so it was a significant demonstration, and you had many of the protesters saying this was the beginning of what they're calling a revolution. as you noted, they are calling on the prime minister and the top cabinet officials to step down. this is what it looked like at that demonstration for just a period of time earlier today. >> right now protesters are clashing with the guards of lebanon's parliament outside of the lebanese court where the explosion occurred on tuesday. a symbolic display, they are taking pieces of the debris and throwing it towards the men they believe are protecting what they call a corrupt government. >> translator: we are the lebanese people. we have the right to talk. they have all to be responsible on what happened in beirut. they have all to resign. this may happen again. >> you could hear all of the people screaming in martyr square, the emotion in that man's voice. there is deep frustr

some demonstrators throwing stones, and sounds of gunfire could be heard coming from central martyrs' square. tuesday's blast was caused when a huge stock of ammonium nitrate blew up, killing at least 158 people and leaving more than 300,000 homeless. 0ur middle east correspondent, quentin sommerville, reports from beirut. shouting. this is lebanon's rage against the elite. here is what they think of their politicians. and, as they passed through their city's destroyed streets, the protesters' anger grew. chanting. they called the names of the 160 people killed by this week's explosion, among them 43 syrians and the wife of the dutch ambassador to lebanon. they carried pictures of the dead, thousands more are injured. the lebanese have long been angry with their government, but now there is a new fury here on the streets. not a single government official has resigned, following the disaster at the nearby port. in a city still reeling from the shock of the blast, their government unleashed its own force. the protests have barely started, and already there is tear gas coming in here from all s

we can bring you live pictures from the lebanese capital thousands of people are gathering on martyr square calling on the government to step down protesters claim that corruption and official incompetence led directly to the disaster on the shot you can see the sheer span and amount of people out there this is an escalation of civil unrest that has been simmering sense last october or sort of poverty levels and i cannot economic freefall on thursday during a summer rally riot police used tear gas against the protesters to break them up the government has launched an investigation into the tragedy and the prime minister has promised that all those responsible will in fact face justice. search and rescue teams are still clearing the rubble in the hope of finding survivors with scores of people still missing at this point explosions shockwave it wreaks havoc across the city destroying buildings businesses and homes the u.n. has warned of a humanitarian crisis with 300000 people in need of aid and shelter artie's interest on the reports from the debris field streets of beirut. this bus station

or right now we're standing in martyrs square square that has long been a venue for many of the poor form that which happened take place 11 on the past couple months especially after lebanon was gripped with the worst economic crisis it has witnessed in the past 3 decades at least we know that the lebanese lira has lost at least 80 percent of its worth in the last 2 months alone right now in the marchers where as you can see behind me demonstrators and activists are collecting donations for people whose homes have been ravaged by the explosion which rocked the capital city bagels yesterday you can see water bottles on the ground stuff even blankets and clothes and everything that the 300000 not the that now 300000 homeless lebanese are could be in need of also you have a lot of pro-reform demonstrators who are once again demanding that the government take action and they are calling even on politicians long been. you know part of the sectarian based power sharing system that has led law been on the brink of economic collapse they are calling on them there resign and to leave they are

marchers are making their way from the devastated harbour area to martyrs' square in the centre of thees have already broken out with police firing tear gas to stop demonstrators getting to the parliament building. the use of face masks in england and scotland is expanded with coverings now compulsory at cinemas, museums and places of worship. stricter lockdown measures are reinforced in preston following a spike in cases in the city. now on bbc news, philippa thomas hears from people around the world about their extraordinary experiences during the pandemic and how covid—i9 has changed their lives. welcome to coronavirus: your stories, a programme about how covid—i9 is affecting the lives of people around the world. i'm philippa thomas, and this week we're hearing inside stories from scientists, some of them directly involved in the fight against the virus, others using ingenious methods to carry out their research while working from home. later, we'll hear what it's like to be leading one of the global teams trying to develop a vaccine. we'll find out how students learning online wit

well right now we are standing at the symbolic martyrs square in the heart of the lebanese capital beirut we are just a couple blocks away from the lebanese parliament this here. place or venue has been seen so a lot of pro-reform demonstrations in the past couple months luckily today we had no protests calling for reform or else it would have been a bloodbath over here as you can see in the background there are still tens of ambulances rushing to the scene the number of marchers or those who have been killed in the very tragic explosion which trip through beirut today has risen to 50 as the number of wounded has also is also nearing up to $3000.00 the devastation here in the lebanese capital is very massive it is being estimated by tens of millions of dollars as you said earlier the blasko was charles 10 kilometers away from the port where it took place also the lebanese prime minister mr has spoken earlier tonight that he has vowed to the lebanese people and that this tragedy will not go on punished that investigations will be carried out the probe will be carried out to find out who wa