Family and friends of an army soldier who died Wednesday blocked a main highway in central Beirut with burning tires and garbage.
The protesters set fire to trash and tires on both sides of the Fuad Chehab highway around 6 p.m., grinding traffic to a halt.
The army reopened the highway after about 30 minutes.
Lt. Col. Rabih Kahil of the Lebanese army commando unit died Wednesday as a result of gunshot wounds suffered two days earlier during a personal dispute with Mount Lebanon villagers.
Kahil, a native of the southern town of Nabatieh who was badly wounded during the five-day battle against extremists in Arsal, was shot three times on the outskirts of Bdadoun.
The victim was left to bleed for over an hour before a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance took him to the American University of Beirut Medical Center.
Hisham Daou, the son of the mayor of the nearby Houmal village, is suspected of killing him. Daou remains at large.
