"Lebanese armed forces stopped Beyrouti from getting closer even though others were allowed to do their work," Al-Manar said. ‘When Beyrouti protested, a soldier tried to take his camera from him. When he resisted, he was hit over the head."

Bleeding from the head, Beyrouti had to be hospitalized.

Pulled by the hair

Patricia Khodor, of the French-language L’Orient-Le Jour newspaper, was collecting information to write a report about the situation in the Monnot area when she heard voices coming from the Damascus road. Monnot is a nightlife spot in Christian East-Beirut but it sits almost on the former Green Line separating it from West-Beirut.

On the Damascus Road, masked men were throwing stones. She tried to get closer when she noticed that some of the men were smashing a colleague’s camera. When one of the men men saw her taking notes, he started screaming "Journalist, journalist!," and the gang quickly moved in on her. They chased her for a few meters before pulling her by her hair and attacking her.

Khodor says she works a full-timer at her newspaper, without any affiliation to any political party. She was only carrying her notebook, which the rioters took and ripped to pieces.

She takes her breath and says with sorrow, "My work today has been worthless, I won’t even write anything."

She too wonders about the reason behind the attack. "If they don’t want the people to see what they are doing, why are they doing it?" she asked.

Ordered to leave

In the airport area, an opposition stronghold, things were not better.

A reporter and crew for LBCI TV put up with harassment for four hours, with some rioters throwing rocks at them, until they were finally ordered to leave the area.

Other crews belonging to LBCI and Future TV, both associated with the government were forbidden from entering some areas belonging to the opposition.

On another hand, Gaby Mrad of OTV, the TV station belonging to Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, said he had no trouble reporting in pro-government areas. But then his station had handed out assignments according to where the reporters lived. "If you live in the area, it is easier to find someone to protect you and facilitate your work," he said.

Malek Kaakour, of al-Hayat, which is seen as sympathetic to the government, said he was able to do his work without too much trouble. But he said he was shocked to see armed men asking people for their ID in the streets without justification.

Meanwhile, in a worrying development, protesters at the Tayoune roundabout in South Beirut were seen distributing a leaflet saying the media was distorting their image.

Violence expected to continue

Lebanon’s Syndicate of Photographers issued a statement on Wednesday, denouncing "what photographers were subjected to during the coverage of the demonstrations from attacks, injuries and harassment."

It cited the names of the injured as Wadih Shlink, Assad Ahmad and Mahmoud al-Taweel, and the destruction of the cameras of Jamal al-Shamaa and Wadih Shankal, in addition to the temporary detention of journalists in a few areas.

The Syndicate called upon all "political and security parties" to ask their partisans "not to attack the photographers but to facilitate their work and protect them."

It also called upon them to compensate the journalists who were attacked, "and to upon them the financial, emotional and physical costs."

Street violence in Beirut is expected to continue, as Hezbollah has vowed to keep up the blockade of the international airport until the government reinstates brigadier general Wafiq Shoukayr. Shoukayr was sacked for alleged ties to Hezbollah after it was discovered that the group had installed secret surveillance cameras around the airport.

Wednesday’s violence was sparked by a general strike demanding wage hikes amid rising prices but it quickly degenerated into street battles between supporters of the pro-Western government and the Hezbollah-led opposition.