The European Union on Friday condemned the use of violence that resulted in "several people being killed and many injured after a shooting in Beirut on Thursday during a demonstration against the judge leading the investigation into the port explosion."

The union called for "the utmost restraint to avoid further loss of life," according to a statement issued in Brussels and carried by the Italian news agency AKI.

The statement indicated that the European Union urges "all parties and leaders to act calmly and responsibly to prevent an escalation of violence at this critical time for Lebanon," as "the priority lies in a constructive and urgent response to all the crises that have plagued Lebanon and its people for a very long time."

The European Union reiterated the need to complete the investigation into the Beirut port explosion on August 4, 2020, as soon as possible, which must enjoy “integrity, credibility, transparency and independence” without any interference in legal procedures in order to ultimately “hold those responsible for the explosion to account.”

In the same context, the Information Office of the Presidency of the Lebanese Republic denied, on Friday, what the media Simon Abu Fadel said about a visit by Judge Tariq Bitar to Lebanese President Michel Aoun, to inform him of his desire to withdraw from the investigation into the port crime.

The media office confirmed that this news was fabricated and baseless, especially since President Aoun never met Judge Bitar.

The Lebanese Red Cross announced that the number of people killed in clashes yesterday in Beirut has risen to seven, as a result of shooting during a demonstration by supporters of Hezbollah and the Amal movement against the judicial investigator in the case of the Beirut port explosion.

In recent days, Judge Tariq Bitar has been subjected to a campaign of pressure led by Hezbollah, the most prominent political and military force in the country, to object to his summoning of former and security ministers for questioning as part of the investigations he is conducting, punctuated by calls for his removal.

Al-Tayouneh roundabout, tens of meters from the Palace of Justice, where Bitar's office is, turned into a war zone that witnessed heavy shooting and heavy shells and the spread of snipers on the roofs of buildings, despite the presence of army units and their implementation of rapid deployment in the area, which is one of the former lines of contact during the civil war (1975-1990).

The shooting began suddenly as dozens of protesters, supporters of Hezbollah and the Amal movement, gathered in front of the Palace of Justice.

Maryam Hassan, the emergency director at Al-Sahel Hospital in the southern suburbs of Beirut, told AFP, "We have a dead man who was shot in the head and another in the heart, and a 24-year-old woman was killed by a gunshot wound to the head while she was in her home."