(Beirut) Visiting Beirut after a devastating explosion, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday called for an international investigation and called for a “profound change” on the part of the Lebanese leaders, accused of incompetence and corruption by an angry population.
Posted on August 6 2019 at 6 a.m. 59 Updated at 16 h 34
Tony GAMAL-GABRIEL and Valérie LEROUX
France Media Agency
“I am not giving a diktat to the leaders,” said the president of the former mandatory power in Lebanon, brushing aside accusations of “interference” by part of the Lebanese political class.
But “the next three weeks are decisive in the future of Lebanon,” he said in an interview with BFMTV.
At the end of a visit of a few hours, Mr. Macron announced his return to Beirut on 1 st September as well as an aid conference “in the very next few days” for Lebanon, a battered country plagued by an unprecedented economic crisis.
Furious after one catastrophe too many in a country in the throes of shipwreck, the Lebanese are demanding accountability.
” Help us ! Revolution! “The people want the fall of the regime,” chanted residents of the Gemmayzé district to Mr. Macron who came to investigate the damage on foot. In exchange with them, he shook hands with several people and hugged a woman.
PHOTO STRINGER, AFP
Emmanuel Macron, on the right, and his Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, on his right, in the ruins of the explosion in the port of Beirut
In the evening, the security forces used tear gas to disperse dozens of demonstrators who were very upset against the incompetence and corruption of the authorities.
Large demonstration on Saturday
These incidents come on the eve of a major anti-government demonstration scheduled for Saturday.
Symbol of the fed up with a large part of the population, the Lebanese ambassador to Jordan, Tracy Chamoun, announced her resignation on Thursday, denouncing the “carelessness” of the authorities of her country and calling to a change of leaders.
“This disaster is a wake-up call: we must not show mercy to any of them and they must all leave,” she said.
The International Monetary Fund has also called on the Lebanese authorities to “make crucial reforms” to break the deadlock negotiations, stressing that it was “time for the international community and the friends of Lebanon to mobilize for help him at this time of emergency ”.
PHOTO BILAL HUSSEIN, AP
Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with a Lebanese woman
Caused Tuesday by a fire in the warehouse where had been stored for six years 2020 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut, the enormous explosion made at least 59 dead and 5000 wounded, not to mention the tens of missing and hundreds of thousands homeless.
Compared to a “tsunami” or an “earthquake”, it destroyed entire neighborhoods near the port and damaged others for several kilometers around.
Wearing most of the time a protective mask, Mr. Macron went to the ruins of the port then to the ravaged district of Gemmayzé, where he observed the distress of the inhabitants who demanded the departure of a ruling class in place for decades.
14 detained officials 
Lebanese authorities claim that the warehouse exploded after a fire. Port authorities, customs and some security services were all aware that hazardous chemicals were stored there, but they blamed each other.
PHOTO POOL, REUTERS
Sixteen port and customs officials were detained in connection with the investigation, military prosecutor Fadi Akiki said.
But, the government has not yet been able to justify the presence of ammonium nitrate “without precautionary measures” at the port.
In a capital that looks like an apocalypse and while the authorities have not put in place any device to help citizens, hundreds of Lebanese have mobilized, in a vast outpouring of solidarity, to continue the operations of clearance or reception of the homeless.
Victims of the tragedy were buried during the day by relatives in tears.
Several countries including France have dispatched first aid workers, medical and sanitary equipment as well as field hospitals to help Lebanon. The European Union has released 33 millions of euros in emergency and the US military sent three shipments of water, food and medicine.
The explosion, the most devastating experienced by Lebanon, fueled the anger of the Lebanese who had pounded the pavement for months at the end 924 to express their fed up with the ruling class.
On Twitter, the Lebanese playwright and actor Ziad Itani, who lives in Gemmayzé, greeted Mr. Macron's visit and criticized the negligence of the Lebanese leaders: “I no longer have a home in Gemmayzé, and the first to visit the neighborhood is a foreign president. Shame on you ! “
