Lebanese security forces have fired tear gas and water canons at protesters near the US Embassy in Lebanon during a demonstration against President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Protesters, some of them waving the Palestinian flag, set fires in the street and threw projectiles towards the security forces who had barricaded the main road leading to the US Embassy in the Awkar area north of Beirut in the Awkar area, TV footage showed.
Addressing the protesters, the head of the Lebanese Communist Party Hanna Gharib declared the United States "the enemy of Palestine" and the US Embassy "a symbol of imperialist aggression" that must be closed.
Several protesters burned US and Israeli flags.
The US decision has ignited protests across the Middle East, where it is widely seen as a blatantly pro-Israel move that threatens the decades-old peace process.
Lebanon is home to 450,000 Palestinian refugees, nearly 10 per cent of the population.
Overnight the Arab League condemned the US decision.
"The decision has no legal effect ... it deepens tension, ignites anger and threatens to plunge region into more violence and chaos," the Arab League said after hours of meetings that began on Saturday evening.
It said it would seek a UN Security Council resolution rejecting the US move.
Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said during the emergency meeting that Arab nations should consider imposing economic sanctions against the US to prevent it moving its Israel embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
