BEIRUT — In front of burning tires and dumpsters, a group of young men stood blocking a major thoroughfare just south of Beirut’s Hamra district, less than three kilometers from Lebanon’s Parliament, on June 6. One of them poured gasoline on patches of plants nearby to burn them as well.

“We are not staying calm about our beliefs,” one of the protesters told Al-Monitor.

A few hours later, heavy gunfire erupted further southwest in Corniche el-Mazraa, which itself lies only three and a half kilometers from Beirut’s central district, where supporters of the majority-Sunni Future Movement clashed with the majority-Shiite, Hezbollah-aligned Amal Movement. Violence had also taken place earlier the same day in the majority-Christian Beirut suburb of Ain el-Remmaneh between locals and supporters of Amal and Hezbollah.

These events came on the heels of the largest protest gathering in Beirut since the start of Lebanon’s coronavirus lockdown earlier the same day, where attendees were far from united in their demands. While some protesters voiced long-held anti-establishment slogans, members of the political parties they were protesting against were present as well. Some groups called for the disarmament of Hezbollah — a controversial demand that was the original flashpoint for tensions.