BEIRUT — After two days of clashes between security forces and protesters and a weeklong wait for the next prime minister to be announced, ​President Michel Aoun postponed governmental consultations until Dec. 19 to “respond to the wishes of [Saad] Hariri,” who resigned as prime minister Nov. 4.

In downtown Beirut on Dec. 15, protesters slowly backed away from the police barricade blocking the entrance to the parliament building in Nijmeh Square. A white fog of tear gas crept toward the massive crowd that had gathered in the area. As the gas swept past the barricade, those who did not have masks or protective gear coughed and struggled to breathe.

This was the second consecutive day police deployed tear gas against protesters. On Dec. 14, the first day of clashes, protesters tried to gain access to Nijmeh Square. Alex, a protester, described what happened next: "[The police] immediately attacked us with batons and started beating people. And right after that, they started throwing gas grenades at us. People were unprepared. The weak, the elderly and the people who could not run basically suffocated in the smoke.”

This area downtown is closed off to the public, with barricades and razor wire blocking all roads to the area. After a group of protesters tried to breach the barricade, the police worked to clear downtown Beirut of protesters, pushing the demonstrators east, into the Gemmayzeh neighborhood next to Martyrs’ Square.