Riot police deployed during Palestinian protest

Scores of Palestinians commemorating the Nakba in Nabatieh district Tuesday attempted to reach the U.N. Blue Line separating Israel and Lebanon, in defiance of security forces. The demonstrators, part of a gathering of thousands at Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, had come together to mark the 70th anniversary of Palestinians’ expulsion from their homeland during the establishment of the state of Israel, known as the Nakba or “catastrophe.” Less than two hours after the demonstration began at 4 p.m., some protesters began scaling a cliffside several hundred meters high on the southern edge of the Beaufort Castle in an attempt to cross the Litani River and reach a road leading to the southern border town of Kfar Kila.
Riot police have reportedly deployed in order to prevent more people from heading towards the Blue Line. A large security presence, including plainclothes Hezbollah officers, deployed around the protest. They were reportedly there in order to prevent Palestinians from accessing the nearby main road leading south.