Pro- and anti-government students clash at a Beirut university; 3 reported dead

(AP) Students loyal to Lebanon's government battled Hezbollah opposition supporters armed with homemade clubs and stones around a Beirut university Thursday. The melee deepened worries about the country's ability to contain the political and sectarian rivalries threatening to push it toward civil war. At least three people were killed and dozens were injured in the clashes before army troops backed by tanks and firing barrages of warning shots into the air dispersed most rioters. The military then declared Beirut's first curfew since 1996.

But the fallout reaches far beyond the final casualty count. The sudden melee, sparked by a cafeteria scuffle between pro-government Sunni Muslims and pro-Hezbollah Shiites, reinforced fears that Lebanon's confessional divides are breaking into violence as they did during the 1975-1990 civil war.

It was the third straight day of violence, sparked by a Hezbollah-led strike on Tuesday that came ahead of a crucial gathering of donor nations in Paris. The conference on Thursday raised pledges of $7.6 billion to help Saniora's U.S.-backed government rebuild following last summer's devastating Israel-Hezbollah war.

The money and show of international support could boost the embattled Saniora. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah has vowed to bring him down unless the opposition is given more power.

But the chaos has paralyzed Saniora's government. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday that donors were backing the wrong party in the standoff and that he could topple Saniora at any time.

In Paris on Thursday, Saniora pleaded to his countrymen to "distance themselves from tensions."

"No one can help a country if the people of this country don't want to help themselves," he said. "I call on your wisdom and reason."

Leaders on all sides rushed to call for calm. Nasrallah _ who has insisted in recent days he does not want Lebanon to tumble into civil war _ went on TV in the evening to tell followers it was a "religious duty" to get off the streets to allow security forces to keep order.

"I appeal to you in the name of Lebanon and human conscience ... It's a pity to waste Lebanon like this," said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally. "It is time we learn from the past."

The clash at the university showed just how quickly any spark can turn into a wildfire.

Students said it began with an scuffle in the university cafeteria between Sunni Muslims and and supporters of Shiite Muslim Hezbollah. As Sunnis in the surrounding Tarik el-Jadideh district moved in, Hezbollah activists called in reinforcements.

Hezbollah activists with walkie-talkies were seen coordinating as a ragtag convoy of hundreds of vigilantes raced to the campus. Gangs _ many wearing blue and red construction hard hats and wielding clubs made from sticks and even chair legs _ poured into the area and battled both Sunni students and riot police and soldiers.

Hezbollah backers claimed that Sunni gunmen opened fire from apartment balconies near the school, wounding several people. The claim could not be independently confirmed.

Thick black smoke rose over the campus and neighborhood on the southern edge of Beirut as rioters set fire to vehicles, tires and trash. Bands of youths clashed with stones and clubs in running street battles as the army tried to close off streets with tanks and armored vehicles. Troops fired tear gas and warning shots into the air.

"We are afraid about the future of the country. We are afraid about civil war," said student Mohammed Abdul-Sater, a 21-year-old Shiite.

Three people were killed and 169 injured, security officials said. It appeared one of the dead was Sunni, the other two Shiite, judging by the district of the hospitals their bodies were taken to.

Up until the last minute before the 8:30 pm curfew was imposed, young men were in the streets around Beirut Arab University. Government backers set fire to the offices of a small pro-Hezbollah party and burned its banner in the street as sporadic gunfire was heard. Hezbollah supporters smashed store windows kilometers (miles) away in downtown Beirut as they left a protest camp ahead of the curfew.

After the curfew fell, most streets were emptied. The last time Lebanon imposed a curfew was February 1996 to stop labor unions from holding anti-government protests. In 1984, the army imposed a curfew to halt street battles between the army and Muslim militias.

The alarming violence signalled what Lebanese have been fearing for months: that the drawn-out confrontation between Hezbollah and Saniora's government could move into the streets and rage out of control.

The confrontation has taken sectarian lines: Shiite Muslims support the opposition; Sunni Muslims tend to support the prime minister; and Christian parties are divided between the two camps.

The Hezbollah-led opposition has staged two months of demonstrations and sit-ins in a bid to topple Saniora's government. But the prime minister has held out, refusing the opposition's demands for a veto-wielding share of the Cabinet.

On Tuesday, the opposition stepped up the confrontation with its general strike, which erupted into street battles around the country between its activists and government supporters. Three people were killed. Gunbattles broke out for a second day Wednesday in the northern city of Tripoli.

The alarming violence has stunned supporters of both sides. But the leadership of the two camps do not appear to be backing down.

Hezbollah, in a statement on its television station, accused pro-government factions of provoking the clashes even as it called on its supporters to get off the streets to "avoid a strife which is being inflamed" by pro-government groups.