SECURITY forces fired tear gas amid confrontations in central Beirut that ran from Sunday into the early hours of this morning, between supporters of the Shia Amal militia and demonstrators protesting against Lebanon’s political elite.

The confrontations began after dozens of supporters of the Shia party arrived on scooters and attacked the protesters with clubs and metal rods, chanting pro-Shia slogans. Riot police and soldiers then formed a human barrier, separating the two sides.

Groups of young men threw stones at each other for hours, with security forces in the middle. Several people were beaten and injured. A few Amal supporters held up the Muslim Shi’ite group’s large yellow flag, waving it and taunting the protesters on the other side, chanting: “Shi’ites, Shi’ites, Shi’ites.”

Amal militants moved in after the protesters had blocked the ring road that links eastern and western Beirut. Road blockades were mounted by protesters in the Bekaa valley as well as in areas north of the capital.

Amal has attacked the main protest camp in central Beirut twice previously. The other main Shia militia, Hezbollah’s, leader Hassan Nasrallah, has accused the protesters of being exploited by foreign powers and has called for them to stop blocking roads.

Tear gas was used by security forces to disperse the groups and the road was reportedly reopened today after one of the worst violent flare-ups of the recent protests.

Huge demonstrations have denounced Lebanon’s sectarian political system, which distributes power among different religious factions — the presidency always held by a Maronite Christian, the premiership by a Sunni Muslim and the parliamentary speaker’s chair by a Shia Muslim — and called for real democracy, rather than the current system in which candidates compete among each confessional group while the groups are allocated seats on a winner-takes-all basis.

Such a development would see the political clout of militias like Amal seriously weakened.

The unprecedented nationwide protests were triggered by proposed new taxes, including on the use of the WhatsApp mobile app. They came on the heels of an austerity budget that cut public spending, pensions and employee benefits to tackle a deepening economic crisis.

Lebanon’s political elite has been paralysed by the protests, with the government failing to agree a new cabinet since the resignation of the prime minister Saad Hariri on October 29.

Note: This report initially identified the Shia militia who attacked the protesters as Hezbollah, based on an Associated Press report which stated this. Subsequent reports from the country indicate this was not the case and the attackers were supporters of Amal. The Morning Star apologises for any confusion caused.