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Chants of 'revolution' in Beirut as France's Macron is mobbed by angry crowds
Large crowds mobbed French President Emmanuel Macron in Beirut as he toured a neighborhood of the Lebanese capital devastated by Tuesday's massive explosion.
"Revolution, revolution!" people chanted, as shock at the devastation in the city gave way to anger on Thursday. New information reveals that Beirut officials had ignored repeated warnings about a stockpile of dangerous chemicals linked to the blast that has killed 137 people and injured 5,000.
Macron told a crowd of reporters and angry people that he would propose a "new political pact" to Lebanon's embattled political class during his visit to a predominantly Christian quarter of the city.
"The people want the fall of the regime," the protesters shouted, echoing calls for the downfall of Lebanon's long-time political elite that were popularized during a nationwide uprising late last year. "Michel Aoun is a terrorist! Help us," one man pleaded, referring to the Lebanese president. One woman screamed inaudible words inches away from Macron's face. "They are terrorists," came the repeated cries.
Most people were masked, including the French president, who removed his face covering to speak to the press. There was no social distancing.
Previously: Beirut Explosion Kills Over 100, Linked to 2,700 Tons of Ammonium Nitrate in Port Warehouse
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 07 2020, @01:49PM (10 children)
There will probably be no smooth change of government. If the government falls, there are a LOT of actors who will try to fill the void. Half of those actors have terror in their hearts.
All because some incompetent assholes couldn't decide to dispose of some hazardous materials. As has been pointed out, they could have paid some guy to take one bag a day out of that warehouse, and spread the contents over farmland. It would have been gone long ago, and the crops would have been healthier for it.
Can't blame the Lebanese for wanting a different government, but they need to slow down, and think hard about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @02:33PM
> "All because..."
Bullshit. From what I've read in recent days, Lebanon has been on the banal descent into corruption and decrepitude for years. This is the culmination of years of incompetence you can only get a glimpse of in the USA if you are poor.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ElizabethGreene on Friday August 07 2020, @02:49PM (3 children)
For scale: the bags weighed about a ton each, and you wouldn't want to spread more than ~350 pounds per acre/year. That's about a hundred pounds of nitrogen per acre, and (in my very limited experience managing n=1 hay fields) that's a lot.
Going from the estimate of 2750 tons, they'd need about 25 square miles to dispose of this as a fertilizer.
(Score: 2) by NateMich on Friday August 07 2020, @02:57PM
That doesn't really seem like all that much then. Surely they have at least that much farmland?
If it was a problem, why weren't they giving it away already?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 07 2020, @04:20PM
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/LBN/lebanon/arable-land [macrotrends.net]
1 square mile is roughly 259 hectares, 132,000/259 = ~509 sq mi
So, the chemical could have been distributed wherever needed most in a single year, or, it could have been used up over several years. A crop duster could have distributed the stuff. Note, there is some risk involved - some years ago, we had a crop duster to blow up while applying fertilizer to fields. A fuel leak while spreading ammonium nitrate can be hazardous to the health of the pilot, as well as anyone and anything in the flight path.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday August 08 2020, @09:27AM
Instead they chose to spread the whole lot through the air in one go, a sort of Big Bang approach to disposing of it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 07 2020, @06:40PM (3 children)
spread the contents over farmland
Too much logistics. Surely the military could have taken it. They must have some empty fields somewhere where they could have stored it properly. I'm given to understand that you just have to parcel it out and isolate each parcel behind concrete blocks or at least berms. I don't know much about their military, but surely they have an engineering unit that could dig some ditches in a field real quick. Turning it over to the military is also safer than just doing a give-away to multiple farmer who may or may not be able to keep it away from bad actors, or who might be bad actors themselves.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 07 2020, @06:51PM (2 children)
Well, most farmers are bad actors. If they were good actors, they'd quit farming!
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday August 08 2020, @05:27AM (1 child)
Some of the performances they put on while asking for subsidies and loans are are right up there with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex2r86G0sdc [youtube.com]
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 08 2020, @01:44PM
You should never give up on your dreams, one way or another, you can get up there on the big screen!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday August 07 2020, @10:30PM
One of those actors was probably responsible for bringing the ammonium nitrate into the country in the first place.
It is interesting how big mistakes can sometimes overthrow governments.