Pro- and anti-government students at Beirut Arab University on Thursday erupt clashes. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV reported altogether four student were killed and 25 others wounded in the clashes. (Xinhua Photo)
 
Clashes between pro- and anti-government factions died down on late Thursday after a nighttime curfew was imposed in Beirut following a day of violence which left at least one killed and more than 81 others wounded.

Dozens of casualties in the clashes pitting supporters of the Mustaqbal movement, headed by parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, against an alliance grouping Hezbollah and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal movement, Lebanon's local Naharnet website reported.

The security sources were also quoted as saying that the casualties included 17 soldiers, four of whom are officers and over 200 cars were smashed during the daytime clashes.

But according to Hezbollah's al-Manar TV earlier report, altogether four students were shot dead and 25 others were injured, many by gunfire, in the clashes erupted between pro- and anti-government students at Beirut Arab University (BAU) on Thursday.

The pan-Arab TV channel's footage showed that fighting started between the followers of rival factions with sticks and stones on the university campus then spilled into nearby streets. It developed into exchanges of gunfire from assault rifles and pistols involving students and residents from both sides.

The report said that it was not clear who fired first but television stations run by the opposition blamed the deaths on pro-government gunmen.

In order to disperse the frantic crowds, Lebanese soldiers fired into the air and later deployed in large numbers in an effort to control the clashes. Thick smoke rose from the area, where rioters had set cars and tyres ablaze.

The Lebanese army called a nighttime curfew in Beirut on Thursday, hours after clashes between pro- and anti-government supporters left at least four dead. (Xinhua Photo)
 
The soldiers also used military trucks to evacuate scores of civilians trapped on the streets by the violence.

On Thursday evening, Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr ordered a nighttime curfew, which would last from 8:30 p.m. (1830GMT) Thursday until 6 a.m. Friday (0400 GMT), to help the army enforce law and order.

In an effort to avoid the spread of violence, Lebanese rival politicians also rushed to call their supporters to keep calm and restrained.

On late Thursday, Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah asked his followers to cooperate with the army and withdraw from the streets.

"It is a religious duty. All must ... leave the streets and remain calm and restrain themselves," he said in an audio message broadcast on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.

Meanwhile, Saad Hariri, the Mustaqbal movement leader, also urged supporters to show self-restraint and calm.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Shi'ite opposition leader, told local television that he hoped Lebanese to halt the strife and called for the national unity.

The clashes died down after the appeals but tension in several Beirut neighborhoods remained high after darkness, the Naharnet reported.

On Tuesday, similar clashes broke out during the Hezbollah-led opposition's general strike against the government, leaving at least three dead and 175 injured.

Lebanese opposition alliance have launched an open-ended sit-in in downtown Beirut since Dec. 1 to topple the Premier Fouad Seniora's government, declaring the anti-Syrian cabinet illegitimate and demanding early parliamentary elections and a new electoral law.

The Seniora government, backed by the March 14 parliamentary majority coalition, had rejected such calls and accused the Hezbollah-led protest of trying to obstruct the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes.

Editor: Yan