After attempting to storm parliament on Saturday night, protesters returned to the streets on Sunday, this time hurling projectiles at security officers deployed to protect the government building. 

Video footage captured the protesters pulling down barricades near parliament, and using slingshots to launch the projectiles.

Police, clad in body armor and wielding batons, responded with tear gas. At Saturday’s protests, one policeman was killed and more than 170 people were injured.

As the sun set, a fire broke out at the barricaded entrance to Parliament Square, prompting police to deploy a heavy cloud of tear gas and send firefighters in to extinguish the blaze.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab has called for early parliamentary elections, but his pledge has not managed to quell the wave of public unrest currently gripping the country. Lebanon’s economic situation was perilous before the explosion, and protests have frequently broken out in Beirut in recent months.

Two government ministers have already resigned followed the massive ammonium nitrate explosion in the city's port on Tuesday.

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