“Tell as many people as you can. The Khandaq people are gathering and it looks like they’re going to attack.”

This WhatsApp voice message spread rapidly among Lebanese protesters on the evening of Wednesday, October 30, the 14th consecutive day of anti-government protests that have brought hundreds of thousands out on the nation’s streets and squares. 

Its warning played on very real fears. Just a day earlier, a group of supporters of Lebanon’s powerful Shiite group Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, launched a brutal attack on protesters camping out on one of Beirut’s key bridges.

The men indiscriminately attacked whoever stood in their way. Journalists and photographers were also targeted by the mob, which reportedly moved in from the majority Shia neighborhood of al-Khandaq al-Ghamiq. Outnumbered, police officers struggled to contain the attackers.