A small but violent protest broke out near an entrance to parliament in central Beirut on Thursday following the devastating explosion that rocked the Port of Beirut killing at least 154 and injuring over 5,000 others.
Riot police were deployed after some demonstrators burned objects and hurled rocks at security forces, footage from local broadcasters showed.
The cause of the blast is being investigated, but Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab said the cause of the massive explosion was 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored in a warehouse for six years.
Some Lebanese are furious with the authorities for allowing huge quantities of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, used in making fertilizers and bombs, to be stored there for years in unsafe conditions.
Dozens are still missing and the blast left up to 250,000 without habitable homes, hammering a nation already staggering from economic meltdown and a surge in coronavirus cases.
The government has ordered some port officials be put under house arrest. State news agency NNA said 16 people were taken into custody. A judicial source and local media said Beirut Port General Manager Hassan Koraytem was among them. The central bank said it had decided to freeze the accounts of Koraytem and the head of Lebanese customs along with five others.
With banks in crisis, a collapsing currency and one of the world's biggest debt burdens, Economy Minister Raoul Nehme said Lebanon had "very limited" resources to deal with the disaster, which by some estimates may have cost the nation up to 15 billion U.S. dollars.
Many Lebanese, who have lost jobs and watched savings evaporate in the financial crisis, say the blast is symptomatic of political cronyism and rampant graft among the ruling elite.
Men carrying bottles of water walk past damaged buildings and vehicles near the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon, August 5, 2020. /Reuters
Earlier on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron also visited the city and announced that his country would organize an international aid conference for Lebanon.
He proposed to the Lebanese authorities a roadmap of urgent reforms to unlock billions of dollars in funds from the international community, and that he would return to Lebanon in September to follow up.
"If reforms are not carried out, Lebanon will continue to sink," Macron said. "What is also needed here is political change. This explosion should be the start of a new era."
During his visit Macron met all Lebanese political factions and toured Beirut's shattered streets where angry crowds demanded an end to a "regime" of Lebanese politicians they blame for dragging Lebanon into disaster.
French President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he visits the devastated site of the explosion at the port of Beirut, Lebanon, August 6, 2020. /Reuters
"I guarantee you, this (reconstruction) aid will not go to corrupt hands," Macron told the throngs who greeted him.
"I see the emotion on your face, the sadness, the pain. This is why I'm here," he told one group, pledging to deliver "home truths" to Lebanon's leaders.
Outrage among Lebanese
"Our leaders are crooks and liars. I don't believe any investigation they will do," said Jean Abi Hanna, 80, a retired port worker whose home was damaged and daughter and granddaughter injured in the blast.
An official source familiar with preliminary investigations blamed "inaction and negligence" for the blast.
People who felt the explosive force said they had witnessed nothing comparable in years of conflict and upheaval in Beirut, which was devastated by a 1975-1990 civil war and since then has experienced big bomb attacks, unrest and a war with Israel.
"All hell broke loose," said Ibrahim Zoobi, who works near the port. "I saw people thrown five or six metres."
(With input from agencies)