Clashes at a Beirut university between students from rival political factions have left at least one person dead and more than 20 injured, reports said.
Clashes at a Beirut university between students from rival political factions have left at least two people dead and more than 20 injured, reports say.
Fighting between government supporters and opponents broke out at the Beirut Arab University in the south of the capital and moved on to the streets.
Fighting between government supporters and opponents broke out at the Beirut Arab University in the south of the capital and moved on to the streets.
The army has been called in to try to break up the crowds and restore order.
The army has declared an overnight curfew in Beirut from 2030 (1830 GMT).
This follows a crippling Hezbollah-led opposition strike on Tuesday during which three people died in clashes.
It follows a crippling Hezbollah-led opposition strike on Tuesday, during which three people died in clashes.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has been campaigning since the beginning of December to replace the Western-backed cabinet with a government in which it would have a veto.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has led mass demonstrations and strike action since the beginning of December to try to force Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's pro-Western government to resign.
The protesters see the government as being too close to the West, and accuse it of bankrupting Lebanon.
Hezbollah's supporters see the government as being too close to the West, and accuse it of bankrupting Lebanon.
Difficult to contain
Campus brawl
Black smoke billowed from cars engulfed in flames as armoured vehicles full of soldiers moved in, firing shots in to the air, trying to keep the rival groups apart.
The latest trouble started as a campus row between Sunni supporters of the government and Shia opponents but it flared rapidly from a student fist fight to violent clashes between local supporters of the two sides.
The clashes will be difficult to contain as the area is "a warren"Some of the injuries came as a result of gunfire in clashes between the students that included battles with sticks and rocks.
Troops were called in to try to separate the two sidesClub-wielding students hurled rocks and other missiles at each other as fighting spread across the capital.
The fighting grew out of an argument between pro-government Sunni Muslims and supporters of the Shia Hezbollah-led opposition movement in the university's cafeteria, students said.
Television pictures showed youths moving through the streets, brandishing makeshift weapons and vandalising cars.
As the row escalated Hezbollah supporters called in help, and residents from the local Sunni neighbourhood joined in.
As the row escalated supporters of the Shia Hezbollah movement called in help, and residents from the local Sunni neighbourhood also joined in.
The violence quickly spread from the main campus on to the streets and in to other parts of the capital.
Armoured vehicles full of soldiers moved in, firing shots in to the air, trying to keep the two groups apart.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says the clashes will be difficult for the army to contain as it is a warren of an area - it is a house-to-house, street-to-street running battle.
The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says the clashes erupted in a volatile area where the mainly Sunni population overlaps with Shia neighbourhoods.
The clashes come as foreign donors meeting in Paris pledged more than $7.6bn (£3.5bn) to help the country rebuild following last summer's conflict between Hezbollah militants and Israel.
He says gunfire continued to echo in the area after nightfall but police later said that order had been restored.
The clashes reinforced fears raised by the general strike on Tuesday that a major flare-up of civil strife could break out if urgent action is not taken to defuse the explosive political situation, our correspondent adds.
The violence came as foreign donors meeting in Paris pledged more than $7.6bn (£3.5bn) to help the country rebuild following last summer's conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
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