BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Some 26 people were injured Tuesday as clashes between government and opposition supporters erupted during an opposition strike that paralyzed Lebanon.
Security sources said hostilities broke out in Beirut and other Lebanese cities as government supporters fought with supporters of the Hezbollah-led opposition who sealed off main roads and tried impose a strike across the country.
The Qatar-based al-Jazeera news channel reported one killed and 28 injured.
The official Lebanese news agency said the Lebanese army, which deployed a large number of troops in areas where the opposition sealed off roads with burning tires, arrested a Syrian in the northern port city of Tripoli who was in possession of hand grenades and other ammunition.
Hezbollah and main its allies from the Shiite Amal movement and Christian Gen. Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement called for a general strike Tuesday to escalate its protest seeking a new national unity government with greater opposition participation or early elections. The opposition has been staging a sit-in in Beirut for the past six weeks.
Although the financial and economic institutions called for defying the strike, the move managed to paralyze public and private sector firms as well as schools and universities.
The clashes raised tensions in the country as independent analysts warned they could lead to more unrest and perhaps civil strife if the two camps don't sit down and find a compromise over forming a new government to resolve the crisis.
But political leaders continued to criticize and threaten. Aoun, an opposition parliament member, criticized the government for refusing to budge on opposition demands and vowed to take further escalating measures to pressure the government.
Samir Geagea, head of the Christian Lebanese Forces allied with the government's parliamentary majority, said the strike and clashes "have nothing to do with democracy; it is a revolution wearing the mask of democracy."
