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| Respect curfew, says Nasrallah | |||||||||
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| BEIRUT: Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah urged his followers on Thursday to respect the orders of the Lebanese army which declared an overnight curfew after violent street protests. “We are using a Fatwa in the interests of the country and civil peace... everyone should evacuate the streets, remain calm and leave the stage for the Lebanese army and security forces,” he said. “We call for the measures of the Lebanese army to be respected-those measures already adopted or those due to be adopted in the next few hours. We call for complete cooperation with the army,” Nasrallah said. Earlier, supporters of the government and Hizbullah clashed at a Beirut university campus, battering each other with sticks, stones and even pieces of furniture in new violence spilling over from Lebanon’s political crisis. One person was reported killed. Black smoke poured into the sky from cars engulfed in flames as armored vehicles full of troops moved in to try to keep the two sides apart. But the riot spread into the nearby streets around Beirut Arab University as supporters of each side flowed in to join the fight, carrying makeshift weapons chair legs, pipes, garden tools, sticks and chains. After a three-hour battle, most rioters dispersed, and the military declared a nighttime curfew in an attempt to put down sporadic scuffles that continued in the area. The university melee marked the third straight day of violence as Lebanon’s political power struggle between the government and the Hizbullah-led opposition moved into the volatile streets. There, the conflict has taken on an increasingly dangerous sectarian tone and many fear it could spiral out of control and push the country into civil war. |
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