Lebanon on Wednesday commemorated the first anniversary of the disastrous Beirut port bombing. Residents expressed their anger and sadness in the city. Many people are still mourning and demanding justice.
One year after the explosion, no high-ranking official was held accountable because large amounts of ammonium nitrate had been stored in the port unsafely for many years. This angered many Lebanese because their country was experiencing a severe financial collapse.
Lebanon’s investigation into the bombing stalled due to the rejection of requests to question senior politicians and former officials.
More than 200 people were killed in the explosion and thousands were injured. This is one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, and it was felt in Cyprus more than 240 kilometers (150 miles) away.
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The families of the victims have been organizing demonstrations to demand justice for those who lost their lives.
“We haven’t forgotten that it was an hour of anger and sadness,” said Khose Khilichian, a resident of Burji Hamud district near the port, who said he would pray for the victims. “My wife and I were on the balcony, and we found ourselves in the middle of the living room. My house was destroyed.”
Damage can still be seen in most areas of Beirut. The port is like a bomb base, and its towering granaries have not been repaired.
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The huge banner on the building overlooking the port read: “Hostage of a vicious country.”
“The community has changed, the spirit has changed, everything in this community has changed,” 72-year-old Habib Frem was injured in the explosion and his house was damaged. He said on Wednesday that he was wearing black clothes to commemorate the day.
The parade will gather at the port, and prayers are expected to be held after 18:00 (1500 GMT), which coincides with the time of the explosion.
“The country is in danger”
The Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audi led prayers at a hospital that was badly damaged in the explosion. He said that the investigation must continue until the corresponding person is punished.
He said that no one can be above the law. “Anyone who obstructs justice is a criminal, even if they are in a high position,” he said.
At the time of the explosion, the Lebanese were already facing deeper and deeper difficulties due to the financial crisis caused by decades of national corruption and waste.
Last year, despite increased poverty and exhaustion of medicines and fuel, the ruling elite failed to establish a new cabinet to start responding to the crisis, and the crisis continued to worsen.
French President Emmanuel Macron led the West to pressure Lebanese leaders to implement reforms. He pledged to provide Lebanon with another 100 million euros (120 million US dollars) in emergency assistance and 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine.
Macron will seek to raise more than $350 million in aid at a donor conference on Wednesday.
Pope Francis hopes Macron’s efforts will be successful, and said that donors should help Lebanon “on the road to recovery”, adding that he is very eager to visit Lebanon, saying that many people “even lost their illusions of life”.
Without taking any reform measures that might alleviate the economic crisis, the sectarian elite fell into a power struggle and competed for positions in the new cabinet to replace the outgoing Hassan Diab government, which resigned after the explosion.
“We tell everyone without exception that our country is in danger,” said Najib Mikati, a politician and businessman who was appointed to try to form a cabinet last month, said in a statement. This is the anniversary of what he calls “pain”.
In a column distributed via email, senior officials from the United Nations, the European Union, and the World Bank stated that investigations into the port bombings continued to stall and that “no truly independent judicial institution can prevent political interference”.
They wrote: “The country desperately needs a government capable of responding to the crisis and working with parliament to make progress on reforms.”
(Additional report by Philip Pullella in Vatican City, writing by Maha El Dahan/Tom Perry; editing by Giles Elgood)
