LEBANON: BEIRUT: INTERIOR MINISTER MURR VISITS TROUBLED PRISON

(8 Apr 1998) Natural Sound

Lebanon's Interior Minister visited Beirut's central prison on Wednesday, a day after the beginning of the first prison mutiny in Lebanon's history.

Three inmates were reportedly injured in clashes with police guards who made repeated baton charges.

On Tuesday, prisoners, including members of the terrorist organisation The Japanese Red Army, set mattresses ablaze in protest against conditions that even the Lebanese media has labelled "appalling."

From a distance, Beirut's Roumieh Prison appeared calm on Wednesday, just a day after the biggest jail riot in Lebanon's history.

But when Lebanese Interior Minister, Michelle Murr, arrived at the facility later in the day, it was to a barrage of abuse.

On Tuesday, prisoners set mattresses ablaze to protest against conditions at the prison.

An estimated ten-thousand men are held in Roumieh, a building which was intended to hold only one-thousand.

Rooms for four people are holding eight, and reports say some inmates have to sleep in shifts because the prison is so crowded.

At least three prisoners were injured in clashes with police guards who made repeated baton charges and fired guns in the air.

On Tuesday afternoon, fire fighters were called in to extinguish blazes and the rioting was put down by evening.

Most inmates in the prison are awaiting trial.

They shouted angrily from their cells on Wednesday when Interior Minister Michelle
Murr tried to address them over a loudspeaker.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)
"I came to hear your problems. If you don't calm down I will not be able to listen to
what your delegation has to say."
SUPER CAPTION: Michelle Murr, Lebanese Interior Minister

Police say no prisoners can escape and one man is being held in connection with
masterminding the jail mutiny.

More than 300 policemen are in charge of the Roumieh prison and another 400 Lebanese army paratroopers have been stationed in and around the prison's hilly compound.

A military magistrate, Nasri Lahhoud, has taken charge of an investigation into the riots.

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