Anger and sadness in Beirut, one year on
Beirut marks a year since the catastrophic port blast in grief and fury on Wednesday (August 4), with residents still mourning and demanding justice.
No top official has been held to account for the unsafe storage of a huge quantity of ammonium nitrate at the port for years.
And a Lebanese investigation into the explosion is stalling as requests to question senior politicians and former officials have been denied.
More than 200 people were killed and thousands more wounded. Swathes of the city were laid waste.
Khose Khilichian, a resident of the Bourj Hammoud district near the port, said he would pray for the victims.
"We didn't forget yet, it is an hour of anger, sadness. My wife and I were on the balcony, and we just found ourselves in the middle of the living room. My house was all destroyed. This will never be forgotten."
The port still looks like a bomb site. Many buildings in the city remain damaged - and swathed in banners expressing disgust with Lebanon's leaders.
Decades of corruption had already brought the economy to its knees, and that meltdown worsened over the past year - forcing more than half of Lebanese into poverty.
Medicines and fuel have run out.
"The neighborhood changed, our spirits changed, everything," says 72-year-old Habib Frem - who was injured in the blast and is wearing black to mourn those lost.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who has led Western pressure on Lebanese leaders to enact reforms, opened a donors' conference on Wednesday, in the hope of raising more than $350 million in aid.
Pope Francis wished success for Macron's efforts and for donors to help Lebanon "on a path of resurrection."
He said he had a great desire to visit Lebanon, where many had lost, quote, "even the illusion of living."
