Eight people were shot on Sunday as the Lebanese army was trying to break up a protest over power cuts in Beirut.

The victims were opposition supporters, members Hezbollah or Amal, which is engaged in a protest over the electricity cuts in the Shia areas of Beirut with the government backed by the Western powers for over a year.

This was one of the worst violence in the city since the civil war erupted in Lebanon in 1975-1990.

According to a senior opposition source, 29 others were injured.

The violence erupted after one Amal activist was shot during the army’s move to stop the protest over power cuts, Reuters reports.

Apparently the army, which is thought to be neutral, shot warning fires in the air in order to disperse the crowd gathered to protest.

Gunmen dressed as civilians were in the area, according to security sources.

According to the army, the investigation was still on as the ones responsible for the shootings were not found yet.

Monday was declared by the Prime Minister Fouad Siniora a mourning day, with schools and universities closed.

He released a statement saying: “In these moments, our country is passing through its most difficult and dangerous times. What we have built during the past years is in danger of crumbling.”

On Monday, at the scene where Lebanon’s civil war began, you could see troops that were putting sandbags and checkpoints on the main roads near Shia neighborhoods.

According to security sources, seven people were killed by a hand grenade in Ain Roummaneh.

In the meantime Hezbollah is demanding to know who the ones responsible for the killings on Sunday are.

In statement released by the group it said: “Did those who fell as martyrs and were wounded fall by the army's bullets, and if so, who issued the order for the soldiers to fire?”

On Sunday foreign ministers from the League of Arab States in Cairo asked for Lebanon to elect army Chief Michel Suleiman as president in order to end the political deadlock.