Beirut grain silo collapses as protesters march on second anniversary of blast

A corner of Beirut’s huge grain silo collapsed on the second anniversary of Lebanon’s port blast that killed nearly 220 people and destroyed swathes of the capital, as hundreds of protesters marched through the devastated city demanding justice for the dead and injured.

Footage shared with The Independent showed the northern corner of the towering structure – that was shredded by the 2020 explosion – tilting at an alarming angle before it crumbled into a massive cloud of toxic dust.

It has been on fire for more than three weeks since fermenting grain trapped inside ignited, but firefighters said they were unable to put the blaze out because so many of the silos are on the verge of collapsing.

Authorities had evacuated parts of the port earlier this week fearing further collapses. On Thursday hundreds of protesters most of them family or friends of those who were killed or injured, gathered outside the port – the epicentre of the blast – as helicopters carrying huge buckets of water tried to put out the smouldering blaze behind them.

Carrying white coffins, gallows and wearing T-shirts smeared in red paint to represent blood, they chanted against the authorities who are accused of deliberately stalling a domestic investigation into the explosion.

“All we feel is anger and despair,” said Ajwad Chaya, whose son, Jawad, 30, was a soldier on duty at the port at the time of the explosion and died trying to put out the blaze.

Ajwad spoke as he carried a picture of his son, and a set of gallows he said was intended for the officials responsible for the explosion.

“My life stopped on 4 August, and we have seen no progress whatsoever.”

At the exact moment of the time of the blast, prayers were held across the city and church bells together with the call to prayer sounded.

At the main gathering by the port, family members of those killed said they would soon petition the United Nations to intervene and send a fact-finding mission to Lebanon as the domestic probe has stalled.

It followed a similar call on the eve of the anniversary, where several rights groups including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Legal Action Worldwide and the International Commission of Jurists together with survivors and families of the victims demanded the UN Human Rights Council put forward a resolution at the upcoming council session next month to dispatch “without delay” an independent and impartial fact-finding mission.

In the statement on Wednesday evening they accused the Lebanese authorities of “brazenly” blocking the probe by shielding politicians and officials who have been implicated.

Tarek Bitar, the judge leading the Lebanese investigation, had charged four former senior government officials with intentional killing and negligence that led to the deaths of scores of people. He also charged several top security officials in the case.

But none of them have been detained and two of those charged were re-elected to parliament in May.

The investigation has shuddered to a halt as officials and ex-minister accused in the probe have submitted complaints against the judge.

“There is no justice under the rule of militia and mafia,” read one banner carried during Thursday’s march — an apparent reference to the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group that has been calling for the removal of Mr Bitar, whom it describes as biased.

Many have blamed the Lebanese government’s longtime corruption and mismanagement, saying it paved the way for the tragedy, when hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, a material used in fertilisers, detonated at the port.