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Lebanese students clash over Saniora

Students from rival political factions wielding clubs and throwing rocks clashed at a Beirut university yesterday in fighting that left about 10 people injured, medics said.

The fighting between supporters and opponents of the Western-backed government broke out on the main campus of Beirut Arab University and moved out on to the street, where students set fire to tires to block traffic.

Army troops fired into the air to try and break up the crowds.

Soldiers ducked sailing rocks as several dozen young men ran through the streets, smashing car windows and hurling stones. Thick columns of black smoke rose into the air from the blazing rubber.

The army cordoned off the area after the clashes erupted in a southern sector of the capital which has a mixed Sunni and Shiite population and was the scene of similar street fights on Tuesday.

Medics said around 10 people were injured. A police spokesman confirmed there were injuries but did not say how many.

Those involved were followers of the Future Movement led by anti-Syrian parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and opposition supporters of the Shiite fundamentalist Hezbollah movement and its ally Amal.
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