ANSD : HRW criticizes ‘excessive’ force against protesters

FRI 22 - 11 - 2024

Date: Dec 21, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

HRW criticizes ‘excessive’ force against protesters

BEIRUT: Human Rights Watch Friday demanded more transparency in the Interior Ministry probe of the use of force by police against protesters in Downtown Beirut on Dec. 14 and 15. The group also called for the Public Prosecutor’s Office to carry out its own independent inquiry.In two nights of clashes, security forces used batons, tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon against protesters - some of whom threw fireworks and other objects at the police. Scores of protesters and 30 police officers were injured.

HRW described the state’s use of force as “excessive” and called for those responsible to face disciplinary action or criminal prosecution, where appropriate. The rights body also urged commanders to issue clearer guidelines on when and how to use tear gas and other crowd control weapons.

“For the public to have confidence in the investigations the Interior Ministry claims are ongoing, there needs to be transparency around both the process and any resulting disciplinary measures,” said Joe Stork, a director at HRW. “Lebanon’s security forces are obligated to abide by human rights standards for the use of force, including rubber bullets and tear gas. They failed to do that last weekend.”

To ensure greater accountability in the future, HRW said the various security forces should have “clearly distinguishable uniforms,” and introduce name tags or identification numbers on personnel uniforms.

Protesters in the clashes on Dec. 14 and 15 were reportedly unable to tell apart riot police and parliamentary police. The former fall under the Interior Ministry, while the latter are under the command of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

During a meeting with HRW on Dec. 17, caretaker Interior Minister Raya El Hassan acknowledged that “mistakes were made,” and said long working hours, exhaustion, stress and lack of appropriate training contributed to the actions of riot police. She said internal investigations into abuse by members of the Internal Security Forces were underway.

She added that poor coordination between various security agencies led to confusion on chains of command and “unacceptable scenes” on Dec. 14. She said that she acted quickly to rectify this by making clear that forces under the Interior Ministry could not take orders from other security branches, specifically parliamentary police, even if deployed together.

Hassan also said that Maj. Gen. Imad Othman, the commander of the Internal Security Forces, had the authority to order the use of tear gas.

HRW also said the Parliamentary Police had not responded to a request for comment on the events of Dec. 14 and 15.

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