BEIRUT: Police from the capital supervised the removal of illegal construction on public land in the area of Raouche on Thursday, in what was described as an exceptional operation that left no other illegally built structures in the capital.

“This is the first and only time,” Beirut Police’s Commander Elias Kallas, in charge of the operation, told The Daily Star, adding there were no other illegal buildings on public land in Beirut.

Supervised by two police patrols of 20 members each, a bulldozer destroyed the already-crumbling constructions built on the sea under the Grand Café in Raouche.

According to the police, the construction, built during the Civil War, was recently occupied by workers who were forced to evacuate a few months ago.

The few blocs of dilapidated buildings were in an appalling state and while a few belongings – some old clothes and half a sofa – were strewn around the place it was clear the site had been vacant for a long time. The smell of the sewers was pervasive throughout the entire area.

“We’re now removing the constructions so this doesn’t happen again, so that people don’t come back,” Kallas said, adding that “drug consumption, adultery and prostitution” were taking place there.

He said the Beirut police was in charge of the operation as the construction was located inside the municipality, adding that illegal construction was a phenomenon that mostly occurred outside the capital.

In April the Internal Security Forces launched a campaign to remove illegal constructions on public and private lands across the country.

Most of the efforts to raze and remove illegal construction were conducted in the Beirut southern suburb of Ouzai, along the highway to Rafik Hariri International Airport, and in the south of the country.

The campaign, during which dozens of illegal buildings have been demolished according to the ISF, met with strong opposition from residents and clashes have often erupted when protesters tried to obstruct the demolition process.

In April two were killed when police opened fire to scatter a protest against the demolishing of unauthorized structures in Tyre.