"It is an hour of anger, sadness": Lebanon marks 1 year since the devastating Beirut blast
04 August 2021
Fluctuating between feelings of sadness, grief and anger, Beirut residents on Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of the port explosion that killed more than 200 people and injured thousands of others.
The big picture: No senior official has been held accountable for the blast, which was caused by a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely at the port for years, per Reuters.
- The one-year anniversary of the explosion comes as the country endures ongoing economic and political instability.
Driving the news: An investigation into the blast has stalled as requests to probe senior politicians and former officials have been denied, per Reuters.
- Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audi led prayers at a hospital that was damaged in the blast. He urged investigations to continue.
- "Whoever obstructs justice is a criminal, even if they are highly placed," Audi said, per Reuters.
- "We didn't forget yet, it is an hour of anger, sadness," said Khose Khilichian, a resident of the Bourj Hammoud district near the port, per Reuters.
- "My wife and I were on the balcony, and we just found ourselves in the middle of the living room. My house was all destroyed."
Between the lines: A report released by the Human Rights Watch on Tuesday concluded that some government officials could have predicted the death that the ammonium nitrate’s presence in the port could cause.
- "Evidence strongly suggests that some government officials foresaw the death that the ammonium nitrate’s presence in the port could result in and tacitly accepted the risk of the deaths occurring," per the report.
- "Under domestic law, this could amount to the crime of homicide with probable intent, and/or unintentional homicide."
In photos:
Lebanese Internal Security Forces gather in Martyrs' Square in Beirut and marched towards the Beirut Port, where the explosion took place, one year after the August 2020 massive explosion. Photo: Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A truck blocks a road leading to the highway facing Beirut's harbor with banners hanging on a building damaged during last year's port blast. Photo: Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images
A gavel monument in front of the damaged grain silos in Beirut. Photo: Joseph Eid/AFP via Getty Images
Supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement political party release white balloons to mark one year after the explosion. Photo: Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Family members of a firefighter martyr are offered his portrait at an art exhibition commemorating the martyrdom of 10 firefighters upon the first anniversary of the Beirut port blast. Photo: Liu Zongya/Xinhua via Getty Images
Go deeper: Lebanon's prime minister resigns in wake of deadly explosion
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.