Clashes erupt in Lebanon as Hezbollah stages labor strike
Hezbollah opposition supporters and government backers exchanged gunfire and threw stones Wednesday as a strike by the Shiite militant group paralyzed large parts of Beirut. The violence deepened tensions in a country already mired in a 17-month-old political crisis pitting the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah against the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. Labor unions had called for the strike after rejecting a last-minute pay raise offer by the government. Instead, it turned into a showdown between Hezbollah and the government. The clashes began when government and opposition supporters in a Muslim sector of Beirut exchanged insults and began throwing stones at each other. Witnesses said security forces intervened.
See "Clashes erupt in Lebanon as Hezbollah stages labor strike", Sam F. Ghattas, San Francisco Chronicle, May 6, 2008