Lebanese police today attempted to forcibly evacuate an occupied building in Beirut where families fleeing Israeli bombardment had taken refuge, sparking riots with the evacuees, according to an AFP journalist.

The building, located on the busy Hamra thoroughfare in the center of the city, was abandoned before it was occupied by several families, some of them from the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been the target of heavy Israeli airstrikes in recent weeks. .

After a complaint by the building’s owners, a court decision ordered its eviction.

Clashes broke out in front of the building between police and the army on one side and displaced people on the other, with the latter setting fire to rubbish bins and throwing objects at the forces of order, according to AFP images.

The security forces “suddenly stormed the building, as if it were Israel attacking its enemies, not as if there were Lebanese on both sides,” complained Amal, who fled the southern suburbs with her parents because of the Israelis. bombings.

“They wanted to force us out. When a door was closed, they broke it,” he added.

The security forces “came in, they started shouting, the women were screaming,” said Lara, an 18-year-old who was also inside the occupied building with her family. “We had nowhere to go.”

After the riots, the prosecutor’s office decided to give families an additional 48 hours to vacate the site, according to authorities.

The escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, which began nearly a month ago, has displaced a million people in a country of nearly six million.

Tens of thousands of people flocked to the capital, crowding into schools, relatives’ homes or apartments. Displaced persons entered vacant buildings by breaching their entrances.

Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi vowed today to take “emergency measures” to end “any violation of public and private property in Beirut”.