BEIRUT: Lebanese security forces fired tear gas and water cannons on Sunday at demonstrators near the US embassy as they protested Washington’s decision to recognise Occupied al-Quds as the capital of Israel.
An AFP correspondent in Awkar outside the capital Beirut said several hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators had gathered near the US embassy, located in the area. They were blocked from reaching the complex by a metal gate sealing the road leading to the embassy, and security forces fired tear gas and water cannons to repel demonstrators who tried to open the gate by force.
Several people were injured by rocks, tear gas, and rubber bullets, the correspondent said.
There was no immediate comment from security forces. Protestors waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags, and sporting black-and-white checked keffiyeh scarves, chanted slogans against President Donald Trump, who on Wednesday recognised Occupied al-Quds as Israel’s capital.
A group of demonstrators set alight an effigy of the US president, whose decision has upended decades of American diplomacy and an international consensus to leave the status of Occupied al-Quds to be resolved in negotiations.
The demonstrators included members of Palestinian parties, as well as Lebanese Islamists and leftists.
By early afternoon, the bulk of the protesters had departed, and security forces moved in to arrest a few remaining demonstrators.
The head of Lebanon’s powerful Hizbullah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, has called for a mass demonstration against Trump’s decision on Monday in the group’s southern Beirut suburbs stronghold.
"I am calling on men, women, young and old, the southern suburbs, Beirut and all those who wish to join in from across Lebanon," Nasrallah said, also inviting residents of Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon, including those who fled or were expelled from their homes after Israel’s founding, as well as their descendants.
Israel occupied southern Lebanon for 22 years before withdrawing in 2000, but the two countries remain technically at war.
In 2006, Israel fought a devastating war against Hizbullah in Lebanon that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 120 Israelis, most of them soldiers.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday described Israel as a "terrorist state" and vowed to use "all means to fight" against the US recognition of Occupied al-Quds as the country’s capital.
"Palestine is an innocent victim... As for Israel, it is a terrorist state, yes, terrorist!" Erdogan said in a speech in the central city of Sivas.
"We will not abandon Occupied al-Quds to the mercy of a state that kills children."
His speech came days after US President Donald Trump recognised Occupied al-Quds as the capital of Israel, angering Palestinians and sparking protests in Muslim and Arab countries.
Four Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in violence following the US announcement. Rockets were fired from Gaza and Israeli warplanes carried out raids on the territory.
Erdogan earlier described the status of Occupied al-Quds, whose eastern sector Palestinians see as the capital of their future state, as a "red line" for Muslims. He called Trump’s declaration "null and void".
The Turkish president has used his position as the current chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to call a summit of the pan-Islamic group on Wednesday. "We will show that applying the measure will not be as easy as that," he added on Sunday.
During his speech, Erdogan held a picture of what he said was a 14-year-old Palestinian boy from Hebron, in the Occupied West Bank, being dragged away by Israeli soldiers.
Turkey and Israel normalised their relations in recent years but Erdogan has continued to defend the Palestinian cause and has regularly criticised Israeli policy.