Government soldiers shot at angry Palestinian demonstrators trying to march home to their besieged camp in northern Lebanon. Two people were reported killed and 29 wounded.
Lebanese youths supported the troops by engaging in fistfights with Palestinian protesters, the state-run National News Agency said.
The confrontation on Friday was the first major trouble between Palestinians and Lebanese troops since fighting broke out last month at the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp between the army and Fatah Islam, an extremist group with followers from several Arab countries.
The clash could complicate the army's effort to flush out Fatah Islam holdouts, although mainstream Palestinian leaders have so far backed the crackdown on the extremist group despite widespread destruction inside Nahr el-Bared.
Virginia La Guardia, an official with the International Red Cross in Beirut, said two people died and 29 suffered injuries in the clash outside the Beddawi camp, where many Palestinians took shelter to escape the fighting in Nahr el-Bared.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, who is visiting Italy, spoke by telephone with security officials and Palestinian Liberation Organization representative Abbas Zaki, urging them to contain the incident. He warned that some groups, which he did not identify, might try to push the situation toward "acts that harm both the Lebanese and Palestinians," the National News Agency said.
After the army and Fatah Islam began battling May 20, thousands of Palestinian refugees fled Nahr el-Bared, and most took refuge at Beddawi, 5km away. With fighting dragging on at Nahr el-Bared, the displaced are now demanding to be allowed to return to their homes.
On Friday, some 2,000 people massed at Beddawi to protest their situation, and some then tried to march toward Nahr el-Bared, Palestinian officials in northern Lebanon said.
The officials said that when the marchers reached an army checkpoint near Beddawi, troops told them to go back. When the refugees continued to march, the soldiers opened fire, first in the air and then into the crowd, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to give statements to journalists.
The army issued a statement saying the protesters carried sticks and sharp tools and blocked the main road with tires and barriers.
"Army troops worked hard to end this action peacefully but got no response from the protesters who tried to push their way into the military checkpoints, ignoring warning shots by soldiers," the statement said.
Amer Lubbani, a 23-year-old Internet cafe owner who said he took part in the demonstration, said hundreds of men, women and children were engaged in a "peaceful, organized march" when they reached the checkpoint about a third of the way from Beddawi to Nahr el-Bared.
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