Clashes Between Army, Protesters in Northern Lebanon Injure Nearly 80 People, Reports Suggest

BEIRUT (Sputnik) - Overnight clashes between protesters and army personnel in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli have left 76 people injured with 16 requiring hospital visits, state news agency NNA reported Sunday morning.

According to the agency, continuous unrest in Lebanon’s second-largest city started when protesters began vandalizing stores and hurling what appeared to be Molotov cocktails at the government building, prompting the army to intervene.

The army had regained full control by Sunday morning but several facilities were destroyed, the agency reported.

Unrest across Lebanon returned earlier this week on the back of a plunging currency and a deteriorating economic situation.

The Lebanese pound fell to lows of 5,000 per one US dollar, after more than thirty years of being pegged at 1,500, sending prices soaring and increasing economic hardships on the citizens.

The large-scale anti-government movement in Lebanon began in October 2019 after the government hiked taxes in a desperate attempt to salvage the sliding economy.

The tax proposals have since been repealed but the protests against endemic corruption and mismanagement have continued with varying intensity.