Spy chief funeral sparks violent clash

Violence erupted in downtown Beirut yesterday as protesters tried to storm the offices of prime minister Najib Mikati after the funeral of an assassinated intelligence chief whose death they blame on Syria.

Security forces shot into the air and police fired tear gas to repulse the hundreds of protesters who overturned barriers and threw stones and steel rods, witnesses said.

The clashes fed into a growing political crisis in Lebanon linked to the civil war in neighbouring Syria.