Students Clash at Beirut University ~ Security officials said at least 17 people were injured.

Las Vegas Sun ^ | January 25, 2007 at 6:45:12 PST | HUSSEIN DAKROUB ASSOCIATED PRESS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Students for and against the government hurled rocks and furniture at each other Thursday as Lebanon's power struggle turned violent on a university campus and spilled onto nearby streets.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television said one of the militant group's supporters was killed, but security officials could not immediately confirm the death. Security officials said at least 17 people were injured. Other TV stations reported that about 25 people were hurt.

Soldiers fired shots in the air to disperse the rioters at the Beirut Arab University in the Tarik el-Jadideh neighborhood, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The trouble in the Sunni Muslim neighborhood spilled over to nearby streets, where people from outside the university joined in the fight. Young men carrying sticks and wearing hard hats arrived in the area and started throwing stones at each other. Some in the crowd smashed car windows before setting several on fire.

More troops arrived in armored vehicles as soldiers fired volleys in the air, and residents fled for cover. The army closed the road on the southern edge of the Lebanese capital.

Officials said the riot started after students belonging to the Shiite Muslim Amal Movement, which supports the Hezbollah-led opposition, argued with members of the pro-government Future Movement over the responsibility for a general strike than began Tuesday. Three people were fatally shot and more than 170 people wounded in clashes during the strike, which pro-Hezbollah opposition had called in a bid to bring down the U.S.-backed government.

Hezbollah students later joined the fight at the university. But the Shiite Muslim militant group, in a statement on its television station, accused pro-government factions of provoking the clashes and called on its supporters to get off the streets to "avoid a strife which is being inflamed" by pro-government groups.

The opposition has staged two months of demonstrations and sit-ins in a bid to topple the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. He has refused the opposition's demand for a veto-wielding share of the Cabinet.

The confrontation has taken sectarian lines, a dangerous development for a country that fought a civil war in 1975-90. Shiite Muslims support the opposition; Sunni Muslims tend to support the prime minister; and Christian parties are divided between the two camps.

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[SevenofNine]

OH great another riot in MIddle East

[GSlob]

Well, in the 13th and 14th centuries the students of major European universities were known for riotous behavior. This makes for the time lag of some 700 years, which is perfectly fitting in the general picture of backwardness.