Lebanese army troops intervened to restore order as pro-government and opposition supporters engaged in fist fights and beat each other with sticks in Ras el-Nabaa, a Muslim neighborhood of Beirut late Saturday, police and TV stations reported. Gunfire was heard in the melee but it was not clear who fired and there was no immediate word on casualties from the police.Television footage showed scores of riot police backed by helmeted troops manning armored carriers taking up positions. At least two persons were shown injured in the footage. Aljadeed TV showed a man, his right cheek bloodied, speaking on a mobile phone. Paramedics carried another man on a stretcher into an ambulance. The station read out names of 11 people reportedly injured in the clashes and said several cars were damaged. The total number of wounded was 14 and all have reportedly been taken to nearby hospitals. State-run National News Agency reported trouble in other Beirut neighborhoods.
Such clashes have become common in recent weeks as tensions escalate between rival Lebanese camps and the country's 15-month-old political crisis deepens. The Beirut neighborhood of Ras el-Nabaa where the scuffle erupted late Saturday has in the last four days been the scene of sporadic clashes between supporters of the pro-Western government and the pro-Syrian, Hezbollah-led opposition. Clashes Saturday spread to three nearby neighborhoods, according to TV reports, but ended within a couple of hours.
The neighborhoods involved have a mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, whose loyalties are split along the political divide. Shiites support the pro-Syrian opposition as the militant Shiite Hezbollah group does, while Sunnis support the U.S.-backed government. Hezbollah's al-Manar television later said that followers of a pro-government group tried to storm an opposition's office at Ras el-Nabaa but the report could not be independently verified.
A Shiite opposition protest over electricity cuts in south Beirut neighborhoods last month degenerated into a riot, prompting troops to open fire. Seven people were killed in that violence.