CURFEW IN BEIRUT

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28701, 26 September 1958, Page 9

CURFEW IN BEIRUT

Ten Deaths In Clashes

BEIRUT, September 25. A total curfew was clamped on the Lebanese capital, Beirut throughout the night after yesterday’s wave of clashes which marked General Fuad Chehab’s installation as the country’s new President.

The clashes, in which at least 10 were killed—some estimates said 30 died—stopped within half an hour of an Army announcement that civilians seen carrying arms in the streets would be shot on sight. President Chehab then called on Rashid Karami, the Moslem rebel leader, and former prime Minister, to form a Government. He later approved Mr Karami’s eight-man Cabinet, which comprises four Christians, three Moslems, and one Druze. No supporters of the Government of the former President, Dr Camille Chamoun, and the Premier, Mr Sami el Solh, who fought the rebels for four ano a half months, were included in the new Cabinet, the American Associated Press reported. Mr Karami kept the two most important posts, the Ministries of the Interior and Defence, which will give him the control of Lebanon’s armed police forces at a critical moment in the young republic’s history. Apart from the Premier, none of the other former opposition men appointed is considered to be an extremist.

In the new Government Mr Karami is Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, and Minister of the Interior.

Operation on Cardinal.— Cardinal Celso Constantini, 82-year-old Chancellor of the Roman Catholic Church, underwent a successful operation at a private clinic today by Professor Ermanno Mingazzini, a leading Italian urologist.—Rome, September 24.