ONE person died and more than 200 protesters were injured in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, on Wednesday during the third day of demonstrations against poverty during the country’s coronavirus lockdown.

Omar Tayba, 29, who sustained a bullet wound on Wednesday night, died in hospital as the protests met with a brutal response from the authorities.

Clashes were broadcast live on television after hundreds of people took to the streets of Lebanon’s second-largest city, angry at a lack of economic support during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Internal Security Forces said that nine of their personnel had been wounded by a “military hand-grenade” thrown at them during an attempt to storm a government building near the city’s al-Nour Square.

The National News Agency reported that 226 people had been injured in the evening – 102 of them treated by the Lebanese Red Cross and another 124 by the Islamic Medical Association.

At least 66 people were admitted to hospitals.

Lebanon has recorded more than 285,000 cases of Covid-19 among its six million-strong population and almost 2,500 deaths. 

The latest daily figures show 73 deaths in a 24-hour period, a new record.

The country has been in lockdown for three weeks to relieve pressure on its creaking health service. But there is no support for many of those who cannot work because of the pandemic.