Hundreds of Lebanese gathered solemnly near Beirut’s coast yesterday to commemorate a half-decade since the cataclysmic port blast of 2020, when more than 200 people were killed in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.
Carrying Lebanese flags and portraits of some of the victims, many of those standing said they felt deeply disappointed that no one has been held to account for the devastating explosion.
“Can someone tell me why five years on we’re still standing here? If everyone stands with this cause, then who’s against us?” said William Noun, whose brother Joseph, a fireman, was killed by the blast.
“This file needs to close. It’s been five years and we don’t want to have a sixth,” Noun said from a stage set up near the port.
The blast destroyed large swathes of Beirut, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.
The names of all those killed were read out as protesters stood facing the wreckage of the Beirut grain silos, which were heavily damaged in the blast and continued to deteriorate and collapse for years after. At 6.07pm – the time of the blast five years ago – the few hundred gathered stood for a moment of silence.
The port blast came nearly a year into Lebanon’s catastrophic economic collapse, and was followed by a political crisis that paralysed government and a devastating war between Hizbollah and Israel starting in 2023.
The blast is thought to have been set off by a fire at a warehouse on the evening of August 4, 2020, detonating hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate.
Some Lebanese have drawn hope from pledges by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam – both of whom came to power at the beginning of this year – to prioritise justice for blast victims.
Aoun yesterday pledged to hold those responsible for the blast accountable, regardless of their position or political affiliation. “Justice will not die, and accountability will inevitably come,” he said.
Rights groups have pressed for a full investigation that will establish the full chain of responsibility. “Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Reina Wehbi, Amnesty International’s Lebanon campaigner.
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